

ChapterIV

TOWARDSMODERNISATION

TheIndustrialRevolution

DisplacingIndigenousPeoples

PathstoModernisation

TOWARDSMODERNISATION

In the previous section you have read about certain crucial developments in the medieval and early

modernworld–feudalism,theEuropean‘Renaissance’and the encountersbetweenEuropeans and the

peoples of the Americas. As you would have realised, some of the phenomena that contributed to the

makingofourmodernworldgraduallyevolvedinthisperiod,andespeciallysofromthemid-fifteenth

centuryonwards.Twofurtherdevelopmentsinworldhistorycreatedacontextforwhathasbeencalled

‘modernisation’. These were the Industrial Revolution and a series of political revolutions that

transformed subjects into citizens, beginning with the American Revolution (1776-81) and the French

Revolution(1789-94).

Britainhasbeentheworld’sfirstindustrialnationandyouwillreadabouthowthiscametobeinTheme

9.ForlongitwasbelievedthatBritishindustrialisationprovidedthemodelforindustrialisationinother

countries. The discussion of Theme 9 will show how historians have begun to question some of the

earlierideasabouttheIndustrialRevolution.Eachcountrydrewupontheexperiencesofothernations,

without necessarily reproducing any model. In Britain, for instance, coal and cotton textile industries

weredevelopedinthefirstphaseofindustrialisation,whiletheinventionofrailwaysinitiatedthesecond

stageofthatprocess.InothercountriessuchasRussia,whichbegantoindustrialisemuchlater(fromthe

late nineteenth century onwards), the railway and other heavy industry emerged in the initial phase of

industrialisationitself.Likewise,theroleofthestate,andofbanks,inindustrialisationhasdifferedfrom

countrytocountry.ThetreatmentoftheBritishcaseinTheme9willhopefullywhetyourcuriosityabout

the industrial trajectories of other nations such as the USA and Germany, two significant industrial

powers. Theme 9 also emphasises the human and material costs incurred by Britain on its

industrialisation–theplightofthelabouringpoor,especiallyofchildren,environmentaldegradationand

theconsequentepidemicsofcholeraandtuberculosis.

Linkingtheworld–In1927CharlesLindbergh,twenty-fiveyearsold,flewacrosstheAtlanticOcean,fromNewYorktoParis,ina

single-engineaeroplane.

In Theme 11 you willsimilarly read about industrial pollution andcadmium and mercury poisoningin

Japanthatstirredpeopleintomassmovementsagainstindiscriminateindustrialisation.

Linkingtheworld–J.Lipchitz’sFigure,sculptedinthe1920s,showstheinfluenceofcentralAfricanstatuary.

European powers began to colonise parts of America and Asia and South Africa well before the

IndustrialRevolution.Theme10tellsyouthestoryofwhatEuropeansettlersdidtothenativepeoplesof

America and Australia. The bourgeois mentality of the settlers made them buy and sell everything,

includinglandandwater.Butthenatives,whoappeareduncivilisedtoEuropeanAmericans,asked,‘If

youdonotownthefreshnessoftheairandthesparkleofthewater,howcanonebuythem?’Thenatives

didnotfeeltheneedtoownland,fishoranimals.Theyhadnodesiretocommodifythem;ifthingsneeded

tobeexchanged,theycouldsimplybegifted.Quiteobviously,thenativesandtheEuropeansrepresented

competingnotionsofcivilisation.TheformerdidnotallowtheEuropeandelugetowipeouttheircultures

although the US and Canadian governments of the mid-twentieth century desired natives to ‘join the

mainstream’andtheAustralianauthoritiesofthesameperiodattemptedtosimplyignoretheirtraditions

andculture.Onemightwonderwhatismeantby‘mainstream’.Howdoeseconomicandpoliticalpower

influencethemakingof‘mainstreamcultures’?

Western capitalisms – mercantile, industrial and financial – and early twentieth-century Japanese

capitalismcreatedcoloniesinlargepartsofthethirdworld.Someoftheseweresettlercolonies.Others,

suchasBritishruleinIndia,areexamplesofdirectimperialcontrol.Thecaseofnineteenth-andearly

twentieth-centuryChinaillustratesathirdvariantofimperialism.HereBritain,France,Germany,Russia,

AmericaandJapanmeddledinChineseaffairswithoutdirectlytakingoverstatepower.Theyexploited

thecountry’sresourcestotheirownadvantage,seriouslycompromisingChinesesovereigntyandreducing

thecountrytothestatusofasemi-colony.

Linkingtheworld–JapaneseZenpaintingslikethisonewereadmiredbywesternartists,andinfluencedthe‘AbstractExpressionist’

styleofpaintinginthe1920sinUSA.

Almost everywhere, colonial exploitation was challenged by powerful nationalist movements.

Nationalisms,however,alsoarosewithoutacolonialcontext,asintheWestorJapan.Allnationalisms

aredoctrinesofpopularsovereignty.Nationalistmovementsbelievethatpoliticalpowershouldrestwith

thepeopleandthisiswhatmakesnationalismamodernconcept.Civicnationalismvestssovereigntyin

allpeopleregardlessoflanguage,ethnicity,religionorgender.Itseekstocreateacommunityofrights-

exercising citizens and definesnationhood in terms of citizenship, not ethnicity or religion. Ethnic and

religious nationalisms try to build national solidarities around a given language, religion or set of

traditions,definingthe peopleethnically,not intermsofcommoncitizenship.Inamulti-ethniccountry,

ethnic nationalists might limit the exercise of sovereignty to a chosen people, often assumed to be

superior to minority communities. Today, most western countries define their nationhood in terms of

commoncitizenshipandnotbycommonethnicity.OneprominentexceptionisGermanywhereideasof

ethnic nationalism have had a long and troubling career going back to the reaction against the French

imperialoccupationofGermanstatesin1806. Ideologiesofcivicnationalismhaveviedwiththoseof

ethnic/religious nationalism the world over and this has been so in modern India, China and Japan as

well.

As with industrialisation, so with paths to modernisation. Different societies have evolved their

distinctive modernities. The Japanese and Chinese cases are very instructive in this regard. Japan

succeeded in remaining free of colonial control and achieved fairly rapid economic and industrial

progress throughout the twentieth century. The rebuilding of the Japanese economy after a humiliating

defeatintheSecondWorldWarshouldnotbeseenasamerepost-warmiracle.AsTheme11shows,it

resulted from certain gains that had already been accomplished in the nineteenth and early twentieth

centuries.Didyouknow,forinstance,thatby1910tuitionfeesforstudyingataprimaryschoolhadmore

orlessendedandenrolmenthadbecomeuniversal?Japan’spathtomodernisation,likethatofanyother

country,hashaditsowntensions:thosebetweendemocracyandmilitarism,ethnicnationalismandcivic

nation-buildingandbetweenwhatmanyJapanesedescribeas‘tradition’and‘westernisation’.

TheChineseresistedcolonialexploitationandtheirownbureaucraticlandedelitethroughacombination

of peasant rebellion, reform and revolution. By the early 1930s, the Chinese Communist Party, which

drewits strength frompeasantmobilisation, hadbegun confronting the imperial powersaswellasthe

Nationalists who represented the country’s elite. It had also started implementing its ideas in selected

pockets of the country. Its egalitarian ideology, stress on land reforms and awareness of women’s

problems helped it overthrow foreign imperialism and the Nationalists in 1949. Once in power, it

succeededin reducing inequalities,spreading education and creating political awareness. Even so, the

country’ssingle-partyframeworkandstaterepressioncontributedtoconsiderabledissatisfactionwiththe

political systemafter the mid-1960s.But the Chinese Communist Party hasbeen able to retain control

over the country largely because, in embracing certain market principles, it reinvented itself and has

workedhardtotransformChinaintoaneconomicpowerhouse.

Thedifferentwaysinwhichvariouscountrieshaveunderstood‘modernity’andsoughttoachieveit,each

inthecontextofitsowncircumstancesandideas,makeafascinatingstory.Thissectionintroducesyouto

someaspectsofthatstory.

Timelineiv(C.1700TO2000)

Thistimelinewillgiveyouanideaofwhatwashappeningindifferentpartsoftheworldinthelastthree

centuries,andhowpeopleindifferentcountriescontributedtothemakingofourmodernworld.Itwill

tellyouabouttheslavetradeinAfricaandtheestablishmentoftheApartheidregimeinSouthAfrica,

aboutsocialmovementsinEuropeandtheformationofnationstates,abouttheexpansionofimperial

powersandtheprocessofcolonisation,andaboutdemocraticandanti-colonialmovementsthatswept

throughtheworldinthelastcentury.Itwillalsorefertosomeoftheinventionsandtechnological

developmentsthatareassociatedwithmodernity.

Aswithalltimelines,thisonefocusesonafewdates.Thereareothersthatareimportant.Whenyouseea

seriesofdatesinatimeline,donotthinkthatthosearetheonlydatesyouneedtoknow.Findoutwhy

differenttimelinesfocusondifferenttypesofdates,andwhatthisselectiontellsus.

Theme9

TheIndustrialRevolution

ThetransformationofindustryandtheeconomyinBritainbetweenthe1780sandthe1850siscalledthe

‘firstindustrialrevolution’*.Thishadfar-reachingeffectsinBritain.Later,similarchangesoccurredin

EuropeancountriesandintheUSA.Theseweretohaveamajorimpactonthesocietyandeconomyof

thosecountriesandalsoontherestoftheworld.

This phase of industrial development in Britain is strongly associated with new machinery and

technologies.Thesemadeitpossibletoproduce goodsonamassivescalecomparedto handicraft and

handloom industries. The chapter outlines the changes in the cotton and iron industries. Steam, a new

sourceofpower,begantobeused onawide scale inBritish industries.Itsuseled to faster forms of

transportation, byships andrailways.Many of theinventors and businessmenwho brought aboutthese

changeswereoftenneitherpersonallywealthynoreducatedinbasicscienceslikephysicsorchemistry,

aswillbeseenfromglancesintothebackgroundsofsomeofthem.

Industrialisationledtogreaterprosperityforsome,butintheinitialstagesitwaslinkedwithpoorliving

andworkingconditionsofmillionsofpeople,includingwomenandchildren.Thissparkedoffprotests,

whichforcedthegovernmenttoenactlawsforregulatingconditionsofwork.

The term ‘Industrial Revolution’ was used by European scholars – Georges Michelet in France and

FriedrichEngelsinGermany.ItwasusedforthefirsttimeinEnglishbythephilosopherandeconomist

Arnold Toynbee (1852-83), to describe the changes that occurred in British industrial development

between1760and1820.ThesedatescoincidedwiththoseofthereignofGeorgeIII,onwhichToynbee

was giving a series of lectures at Oxford University. His lectures were published in 1884, after his

untimelydeath, asabook calledLectures on the Industrial Revolution inEngland: Popular Addresses,

NotesandOtherFragments.

Laterhistorians, T.S. Ashton, PaulMantoux and EricHobsbawm,broadlyagreed with Toynbee.There

wasremarkableeconomicgrowthfromthe1780sto1820inthecottonandironindustries,incoalmining,

in the building of roads and canals and in foreign trade. Ashton (1889-1968)celebrated theIndustrial

Revolution,whenEnglandwas‘sweptbyawaveofgadgets’.

Inthesecondone,afterabout1850,newareaslikethechemicalandelectricalindustriesexpanded.In

thatperiod,Britainfellbehind,andlostitspositionastheworld’sleadingindustrialpower,asitwas

overtakenbyGermanyandtheUSA.

WhyBritain?

Britainwasthefirstcountrytoexperiencemodernindustrialisation.Ithadbeenpoliticallystablesince

theseventeenthcentury,withEngland,WalesandScotlandunifiedunderamonarchy.Thismeantthatthe

kingdomhadcommonlaws,asinglecurrencyandamarketthatwasnotfragmentedbylocalauthorities

levying taxes on goods that passed through their area, thus increasing their price. By the end of the

seventeenthcentury,moneywaswidelyusedasthemediumofexchange.Bythenalargesectionofthe

peoplereceivedtheirincomeintheformofwagesandsalariesratherthaningoods.Thisgavepeoplea

widerchoiceforwaystospendtheirearningsandexpandedthemarketforthesaleofgoods.

In the eighteenth century, England had been through a major economic change, later described as the

‘agriculturalrevolution’.Thiswastheprocessbywhichbiggerlandlordshadboughtupsmallfarmsnear

their

ownproperties andenclosedthe village common lands, thus creating very largeestatesand increasing

foodproduction.Thisforcedlandless

farmers,andthosewhohadlivedbygrazinganimalsonthecommonlands,tosearchforjobselsewhere.

Mostofthemwenttonearbytowns.

Towns,TradeandFinance

Fromtheeighteenthcentury,manytownsinEuropeweregrowinginareaandinpopulation.Outofthe19

Europeancitieswhose populationdoubledbetween1750and 1800,11werein Britain.The largestof

themwasLondon,which servedasthe hubofthecountry’s markets,with the nextlargestoneslocated

closetoit.

Londonhadalsoacquiredaglobalsignificance.Bytheeighteenthcentury,thecentreofglobaltradehad

shiftedfromtheMediterraneanportsofItalyandFrancetotheAtlanticportsofHollandandBritain.Still

later,LondonreplacedAmsterdamastheprincipalsourceofloansforinternationaltrade.Londonalso

becamethe centre of atriangular trade network thatdrewin England,AfricaandtheWestIndies.The

companies trading in America and Asia also hadtheir officesin London. In England the movement of

goodsbetweenmarketswashelpedbyagoodnetworkofrivers,andanindentedcoastlinewithsheltered

bays.Untilthespreadofrailways,transportbywaterwayswascheaperandfasterthanbyland.Asearly

as1724,Englishriversprovidedsome1,160milesofnavigablewater,andexceptformountainousareas,

mostplacesinthecountrywerewithin15milesof ariver.Since allthenavigablesectionsofEnglish

riversflowintothesea,cargoonrivervesselswaseasilytransferredtocoastalshipscalledcoasters.By

1800,atleast100,000sailorsworkedonthecoasters.

‘Themanofwealthandpride

Takesupaspacethatmanypoorsupplied;

Spaceforhislake,hispark’sextendedbounds,

Spaceforhishorses,equipage,andhounds;

Therobethatwrapshislimbsinsilkensloth

Hasrobbedtheneighbouringfieldsofhalftheirgrowth.’

–OliverGoldsmith(1728-74),TheDesertedVillage.

Thecentreofthecountry’sfinancialsystemwastheBankofEngland(foundedin1694).By1784,there

were more than a hundred provincial banks in England, and during the next 10 years their numbers

trebled.Bythe1820s,thereweremorethan600banksintheprovinces,andover100banksinLondon

alone.Thefinancialrequirementstoestablishandmaintainbigindustrialenterprisesweremetbythese

banks.

The industrialisation that occurred in Britain from the 1780s to the 1850s is explained partly by the

factorsdescribedabove–manypoorpeoplefromthevillagesavailabletoworkintowns;bankswhich

couldloanmoneytosetuplargeindustries;andagoodtransportnetwork.

The following pages will describe two new factors: a range of technological changes that increased

productionlevelsdramaticallyandanewtransportnetworkcreatedbytheconstructionofrailways.In

bothdevelopments,ifthedatesarereadcarefully,onewillnoticethatthereisagapofafewdecades

betweenthedevelopmentanditswidespreadapplication.Onemustnotassumethatanewinnovationin

technologyledtoitbeingusedintheindustryimmediately.

Of the 26,000 inventions recorded in the eighteenth century, more than half were listed for the period

1782-1800.Theseledtomanychanges.Weshalldiscussthefourmajorones:thetransformationofthe

ironindustry,thespinningandweavingofcotton,thedevelopmentofsteam‘power’andthecomingofthe

railways.

ACTIVITY1

Discuss the developments in Britain and in other parts of the world in the eighteenth century that

encouragedBritishindustrialisation.

CoalandIron

Englandwasfortunateinthatcoalandironore,thestaplematerialsformechanisation,wereplentifully

available,aswereotherminerals–lead,copperandtin–thatwereusedinindustry.However,untilthe

eighteenthcentury,therewasascarcityofusableiron.Ironisdrawnoutfromoreaspureliquidmetalby

aprocesscalledsmelting.Forcenturies,charcoal(fromburnttimber)wasusedforthesmeltingprocess.

This had several problems: charcoal was too fragile to transport across long distances; its impurities

producedpoor-qualityiron;itwasinshortsupplybecause

forestshadbeendestroyedfortimber;anditcouldnotgeneratehightemperatures.

Coalbrookdale:blast-furnaces(leftandcentre)andcharcoal-ovens(right);paintingbyF.Vivares,1758.

Thesolutiontothisproblemhadbeensoughtforyearsbeforeitwassolvedbyafamilyofiron-masters,

theDarbysofShropshire.Inthecourseofhalfacentury,threegenerationsofthisfamily–grandfather,

father and son, allcalled AbrahamDarby – brought abouta revolution in the metallurgicalindustry. It

beganwithaninventionin1709bythefirstAbrahamDarby(1677-1717).Thiswasablastfurnacethat

wouldusecoke,whichcouldgeneratehightemperatures;cokewasderivedfromcoalbyremovingthe

sulphur and impurities. This invention meant that furnaces no longer had to depend on charcoal. The

meltedironthatemergedfromthesefurnacespermittedfinerandlargercastingsthanbefore.

TheCastIronBridgenearCoalbrookdale,paintingbyWilliamWilliams,1780.

Theprocesswasfurtherrefinedbymoreinventions.The secondDarby (1711-68)developedwrought-

iron (which waslessbrittle)frompig-iron.HenryCort (1740-1823)designedthepuddlingfurnace(in

which molten iron could be rid of impurities) and the rolling mill, which used steam power to roll

purified iron into bars. It now became possible to produce a broader range of iron products. The

durabilityofironmadeitabettermaterialthanwoodforeverydayitemsandformachinery.Unlikewood,

which could burn or splinter, the physical and chemical properties of iron could be controlled. In the

1770s, John Wilkinson(1728-1808)madethefirstiron chairs,vats for breweriesand distilleries, and

iron pipes of all sizes. In 1779, the third Darby (1750-91) built the first iron bridge in the world, in

Coalbrookdale, spanning the river Severn*. Wilkinson used cast iron for the first time to make water

pipes(40milesofitforthewatersupplyofParis).

*ThisarealatergrewintothevillagecalledIronbridge.

Theironindustrythencametobeconcentratedinspecificregionsasintegratedunitsofcoalminingand

ironsmelting.Britainwasluckyinpossessingexcellentcokingcoalandhigh-gradeironoreinthesame

basinsoreventhesameseams.Thesebasinswerealsoclosetoports;therewerefivecoastalcoalfields

which coulddeliver theirproducts almost straightinto ships.Since thecoalfieldswerenearthe coast,

shipbuildingincreased,asdidtheshippingtrade.

Map1:Britain:Theironindustry

TheBritishironindustryquadrupleditsoutputbetween1800and1830,anditsproductwasthecheapest

inEurope.In1820,atonofpigironneeded8tonsofcoaltomakeit,butby1850itcouldbeproducedby

usingonly2tons.By1848,Britainwassmeltingmoreironthantherestoftheworldputtogether.

ACTIVITY2

IronbridgeGorgeistodayamajor‘heritagesite’.

Canyousuggestwhy?



CottonSpinningandWeaving

TheBritishhadalwayswovenclothoutofwoolandflax(tomakelinen).Fromtheseventeenthcentury,

thecountryhadbeenimportingbalesofcottonclothfromIndiaatgreatcost.AstheEastIndiaCompany’s

politicalcontrolofpartsofIndiawasestablished,itbegantoimport,alongwithcloth,rawcotton,which

couldbespunandwovenintoclothinEngland.

Till the early eighteenth century, spinning had been so slow and laborious that 10 spinners (mostly

women,hencetheword‘spinster’)wererequiredtosupplysufficientyarntokeepasingleweaverbusy.

Therefore,whilespinnerswereoccupiedallday,weaverswaitedidlytoreceiveyarn.Butaseriesof

technologicalinventionssuccessfullyclosedthegapbetweenthespeedinspinningrawcottonintoyarn

or thread, and of weaving the yarn into fabric. To make it even more efficient, production gradually

shiftedfromthehomesofspinnersandweaverstofactories.

Fromthe1780s,thecottonindustrysymbolisedBritishindustrialisationinmanyways.Thisindustryhad

twofeatureswhichwerealsoseeninotherindustries.

Rawcottonhadtobeentirelyimportedandalargepartofthefinishedclothwasexported.Thissustained

theprocessofcolonisation,sothatBritaincouldretaincontroloverthesourcesofrawcottonaswellas

themarkets.

Manpower(inthispicture,woman-power)workedthetreadmillthatloweredthelidofthecottonpress.

1. The flying shuttle loom, designed by John Kay (1704-64) in 1733 made it possible to weave broader fabrics in less time and

consequentlycalledformoreyarnthancouldbesuppliedattheprevailingpaceofspinning.

2.ThespinningjennywasamachinemadebyJamesHargreaves(1720-78)in1765onwhichasinglepersoncouldspinseveralthreads

ofyarnsimultaneously.Thisprovidedweaverswithyarnatafasterratethantheycouldweaveintofabric.

3.Thewaterframe,whichRichardArkwright(1732-92)inventedin1769,producedamuchstrongerthreadthanbefore.Thisalsomade

itpossibletoweavepurecottonfabricsratherthanfabricsthatcombinedlinenandcottonyarn.

4.Themulewasthenicknameforamachineinventedin1779bySamuelCrompton(1753-1827)thatallowedthespinningofstrongand

fineyarn.

5. The cycle of inventions inthe cotton textile industry that sought tomaintaina balance between the tasks of spinning and weaving

concludedwiththeinventionofthepowerloombyEdmundCartwright(1743-1823)in1787.

This was easyto work, stopped automaticallyevery time a thread broke and couldbe used to weave any kind of material.From the

1830s,developmentsinthisindustryconcentratedonincreasingtheproductivityofworkersratherthanbringingnewmachinesintouse.

Map2:Britain:Thecottonindustry

Theindustrywasheavilydependentontheworkofwomenandchildreninfactories.Thisexemplifiedthe

uglyfaceofearlyindustrialisation,aswillbedescribedbelow.

SteamPower

The realisation that steam could generate tremendous power was decisive to large-scale

industrialisation.Waterashydraulicpowerhadbeentheprimesourceofenergyforcenturies,butithad

beenlimitedtocertainareas,seasonsandbythespeedoftheflowofwater.Nowitwasuseddifferently.

Steampowerprovidedpressureathightemperaturesthatenabledtheuseofabroadrangeofmachinery.

Thismeantthatsteampowerwastheonlysourceofenergythatwasreliableandinexpensiveenoughto

manufacturemachineryitself.

Watt’sinventionswerenotlimitedtothesteamengine.Heinventedachemicalprocessforcopyingdocuments.

He also created a unit of measurement basedon comparingmechanical power with that of the previousuniversal power source, the

horse.Watt’smeasurementunit,horsepower,equatedtheabilityofahorsetolift33,000pounds(14,969kg)

onefoot(0.3m)inoneminute.Horsepowerremainsasauniversallyusedindexof

mechanicalenergy.

Horsesturnedthewheelstogrindmetal.Theuseofsteamreducedthedependenceonmanpowerandhorsepower.

Steampowerwasfirstusedinminingindustries.Asthedemandforcoalandmetalsexpanded,effortsto

obtain them from ever-deeper mines intensified. Flooding in mines was a serious problem. Thomas

Savery(1650-1715)builtamodelsteamenginecalledtheMiner’sFriendin1698todrainmines.These

enginesworkedslowly,inshallowdepths,andtheboilerburstundertoomuchpressure.

AnothersteamenginewasbuiltbyThomasNewcomen(1663-1729)in1712.Thishadthemajordefectof

losingenergyduetocontinuouscoolingofthecondensingcylinder.

ThesteamenginehadbeenusedonlyincoalminesuntilJamesWatt(1736-1819)developedhismachine

in 1769. Watt’s invention converted the steam engine from being a mere pump into a ‘prime mover’

capable of providing energy to power machines in factories. Backed by the wealthy manufacturer

MatthewBoulton(1728-1809),WattcreatedtheSohoFoundryinBirminghamin1775.Fromthisfoundry

Watt’ssteamengineswereproducedinsteadilygrowingnumbers.Bytheendoftheeighteenthcentury,

Watt’ssteamenginewasbeginningtoreplacehydraulicpower.

After1800,steamenginetechnologywasfurtherdevelopedwiththeuseoflighter,strongermetals,the

manufacture of more accurate machine tools and the spread of better scientific knowledge.  In 1840,

Britishsteamenginesweregeneratingmorethan70percentofallEuropeanhorsepower.

CanalsandRailways

Canalswereinitiallybuilttotransportcoaltocities.Thiswasbecausethebulkandweightofcoalmade

itstransportbyroadmuchslowerandmoreexpensivethanbybargesoncanals.Thedemandforcoal,as

industrial energy and for heating and lighting homes in cities, grew constantly. The making of the first

Englishcanal,theWorsleyCanal(1761)byJamesBrindley(1716-72),hadnootherpurposethantocarry

coalfromthecoaldepositsatWorsley(nearManchester)tothatcity;afterthecanalwascompletedthe

priceofcoalfellbyhalf.

Canalswereusuallybuiltbybig landownerstoincreasethevalue ofthemines,quarries or forestson

theirlands.Theconfluenceofcanalscreatedmarketingcentresinnewtowns.ThecityofBirmingham,for

example, owed itsgrowth to itsposition atthe heart of a canal system connecting London, the Bristol

Channel,andtheMerseyandHumberrivers.From1760to1790,twenty-fivenewcanal-buildingprojects

werebegun.Inthe periodknownasthe ‘canal-mania’,from1788to1796, therewereanother46new

projectsandoverthenext60yearsmorethan4,000milesofcanalwerebuilt.

Thefirststeamlocomotive,Stephenson’sRocket,appearedin1814.Railwaysemergedasanewmeans

of transportation that was available throughout the year, both cheap and fast, to carry passengers and

goods.Theycombinedtwoinventions,theirontrackwhichreplacedthewoodentrackinthe1760s,and

haulagealongitbysteamengine.

The invention of the railways took the entire process of industrialisation to a second stage. In 1801,

RichardTrevithick

(1771-1833)haddevisedanenginecalledthe‘PuffingDevil’thatpulledtrucksaroundtheminewherehe

worked in Cornwall. In 1814, the railway engineer George Stephenson (1781-1848) constructed a

locomotive,called‘TheBlutcher’,thatcouldpullaweightof30tonsupahillat4mph.Thefirstrailway

lineconnectedthecitiesofStocktonandDarlingtonin1825,adistanceof9milesthatwascompletedin

two hours at speeds of up to 24 kph (15 mph), and the next railway line connected Liverpool and

Manchesterin1830.Within20years,speedsof30to50milesanhourwereusual.

In the 1830s, the use of canals revealed several problems. The congestion of vessels made movement

slowoncertainstretchesofcanals,andfrost,floodordroughtlimitedthetimeoftheiruse.Therailways

nowappearedasaconvenientalternative.About6,000milesofrailwaywasopenedinBritainbetween

1830and1850,mostofitintwoshortbursts.Duringthe‘littlerailwaymania’of1833-37,1400milesof

line wasbuilt,and during the bigger ‘mania’ of 1844-47, another 9,500 miles of line was sanctioned.

Theyusedvastamountsofcoalandiron,employedlargenumbersofworkersandboostedactivityinthe

constructionandpublicworksindustries.MostofEnglandhadbeenconnectedbyrailwayby1850.



Whoweretheinventors?

Itisinterestingtofindoutwhotheindividualswerewhobroughtaboutthesechanges.Fewofthemweretrainedscientists.Educationin

basicsciences like physics or chemistrywas extremelylimited until the late nineteenth century, well afterthe technological inventions

described above.Sincethesebreakthroughs did notrequireafull knowledge of the laws of physicsorchemistry on which they were

based,advancescouldbeandweremadebybrilliantbutintuitivethinkersandpersistentexperimenters.Theywerehelpedbythefact

that England had certain features which European countries did not. Dozens of scientific journals and published papers of scientific

societiesappearedinEnglandbetween1760and1800.Therewasawidespreadthirstforknowledgeeveninthesmallertowns.Thiswas

met by the activities of theSociety ofArts (founded in1754), by travelling lecturers, orin ‘coffee houses’ that multipliedthrough the

eighteenthcentury.

Mostinventionsweremoretheproductofdetermination,interest,curiosity,evenluck,thantheapplicationofscientificknowledge.Some

inventors inthecotton industry, likeJohnKayandJamesHargreaves, werefamiliarwith the skillsofweavingandcarpentry.Richard

Arkwright, however, was a barber and wig-maker, Samuel Crompton was not technically skilled, and Edmund Cartwright studied

literature,medicineandagriculture,initiallywishedtobecomeaclergyman,andknewlittleofmechanics.

Bycontrast,intheareaofsteamengines,ThomasSavery,anarmyofficer,ThomasNewcomen,ablacksmithandlocksmith,andJames

Watt,withastrongmechanicalbent,allhadsomeknowledgerelevanttotheirinventions.Theroad-builderJohnMetcalf,whopersonally

surveyedsurfacesforroadsandplannedthem,wasblind.ThecanalbuilderJamesBrindleywasalmostilliterate,withsuchpoorspelling

thathecouldneverspelltheword‘navigation’,buthehadtremendouspowersofmemory,imaginationandconcentration.

ChangedLives

Intheseyears,therefore,itwaspossibleforindividualswithtalenttobringaboutrevolutionarychanges.

Similarly,therewererichindividualswhotookrisksandinvestedmoneyinindustriesinthehopethat

profitscouldbemade,andthattheirmoneywould‘multiply’.Inmostcasesthismoney–capital–did

multiply. Wealth, in the form of goods, incomes, services, knowledge and productive efficiency, did

increasedramatically.Therewas,atthesametime,amassivenegativehumancost.Thiswasevidentin

broken families, new addresses, degraded cities and appalling working conditions in factories. The

numberofcitiesinEnglandwithapopulationofover50,000grewfromtwoin1750to29in1850.This

paceofgrowthwasnotmatchedwiththeprovisionofadequatehousing,sanitationorcleanwaterforthe

rapidlygrowingurbanpopulation.

Farleft:Coalbrookdale,Carpenters’Row,cottagesbuiltbythecompanyforworkersin1783.

Left:ThehousesoftheDarbys;paintingbyWilliamWestwood,1835.

*ThegatesofHell.

Newcomers were forced to live in overcrowded slums in the congested central areas of towns near

factories, while the rich inhabitants escaped, by shifting to homes in the suburbs where the air was

cleanerandthewatersafetodrink.



EdwardCarpentereloquentlydescribedsuchcitiesinabout1881,inhispoem‘InaManufacturingTown’

‘AsIwalkedrestlessanddespondentthroughthegloomycity,

Andsawtheeagerunrestingtoandfro–asofghostsinsomesulphurousHades*–

Andsawthecrowdsoftallchimneysgoingup,andthepallofsmoke

coveringthesun,coveringtheearth,lyingheavyagainstthevery

ground–

Andsawthehuge-refuseheapswrithingwithchildrenpickingthemover,

Andtheghastlyhalf-rooflesssmoke-blackenedhouses,andtheblack

riverflowingbelow,–

AsIsawthese,andasIsawagainfarawaytheCapitalistquarter,

Withitsvillaresidencesanditshigh-walledgardensandits

well-appointedcarriages,anditsfaceturnedawayfromthewriggling

povertywhichmadeitrich,…

Ishuddered.’

TheWorkers

Asurveyin1842revealedthattheaveragelifespanofworkerswaslowerthanthatofanyothersocial

groupincities:itwas15yearsinBirmingham,17inManchester,21inDerby.Morepeopledied,and

died at a younger age, in the new industrial cities, than in the villages they had come from. Half the

childrenfailedtosurvivebeyondtheageoffive.Theincreaseinthepopulationofcitieswasbecauseof

immigrants,ratherthanbyanincreaseinthenumberofchildrenborntofamilieswhoalreadylivedthere.

Deaths were primarily caused by epidemics of disease that sprang from the pollution of water, like

choleraandtyphoid,oroftheair,liketuberculosis.Morethan31,000peoplediedfromanoutbreakof

cholerain1832.Untillateinthenineteenthcentury,municipalauthoritieswerenegligentinattendingto

thesedangerousconditionsoflifeandthemedicalknowledgetounderstandandcurethesediseaseswas

unknown.

Women,ChildrenandIndustrialisation

TheIndustrialRevolutionwasatimeofimportantchangesinthewaythatchildrenandwomenworked.

Childrenoftheruralpoorhadalwaysworkedathomeorinthefarmatjobsthatvariedduringthedayor

between seasons, under the watchful eye of parents or relatives. Likewise, in villages women were

actively involved in farm work; they reared livestock, gathered firewood and spun yarn on spinning

wheelsintheirhomes.

Work in the factories,with long, unbroken hours of the samekind of work, under strict disciplineand

sharp forms of punishment, was completely different. The earnings of women and children were

necessarytosupplementmen’smeagrewages.Astheuseofmachineryspread,andfewerworkerswere

needed,industrialistspreferred toemploywomenandchildren who wouldbe less agitatedabouttheir

poorworkingconditionsandworkforlowerwagesthanmen.

Womaningilt-buttonfactory,Birmingham.Inthe1850s,two-thirdsoftheworkforceinthebuttontradewerewomenandchildren.

Menreceived25shillingsaweek,women7shillingsandchildrenoneshillingeach,forthesamehoursofwork.

TheywereemployedinlargenumbersinthecottontextileindustryinLancashireandYorkshire.Women

were also the main workers in the silk, lace-making and knitting industries, as well as (along with

children)inthemetalindustriesofBirmingham.Machinerylikethecottonspinningjennywasdesignedto

be used by child workers with their small build and nimble fingers. Children were often employed in

textile factories because they were smallenough tomove between tightly packed machinery. The long

hours of work, including cleaning the machines on Sundays, allowed them little fresh air or exercise.

Children caught their hair in machines or crushed their hands, while some died when they fell into

machinesastheydroppedofftosleepfromexhaustion.

Coalmineswerealsodangerousplacestoworkin.Roofscavedinortherecouldbeanexplosion,and

injuries were thereforecommon. The owners of coalmines used children toreach deep coal faces or

those wheretheapproach pathwastoonarrowforadults.Youngerchildren workedas‘trappers’ who

openedandshutdoorsasthecoalwagonstravelledthroughmines,orcarriedheavyloadsofcoalontheir

backsas‘coalbearers.’

AlaneinthepoorerquartersofLondon;engravingbytheFrenchartistDore,1876.

Factorymanagersconsideredchildlabourtobeimportanttrainingforfuturefactorywork.Theevidence

fromBritish factory recordsrevealsthatabouthalf ofthe factory workershad started workwhen they

werelessthan ten years old and 28percent when they wereunder14. Women may well havegained

increasedfinancialindependenceand self-esteemfrom their jobs; butthis was morethan offsetby the

humiliating terms of work they endured, the children they lost at birth or in early childhood and the

squalidurbanslumsthatindustrialworkcompelledthemtolivein.

InhisnovelHardTimes,CharlesDickens(1812-70),perhapsthemostseverecontemporarycriticofthehorrorsofindustrialisationfor

thepoor,wroteafictionalaccountofanindustrialtownheaptlycalledCoketown.‘Itwasatownofredbrick,orofbrickthatwould

havebeenredifthesmokeandasheshadallowedit;butasmattersstooditwasatownofunnaturalredandblacklikethepaintedface

ofasavage.Itwasatownofmachineryandtallchimneys,outofwhichinterminableserpentsofsmoketrailedthemselvesforeverand

ever,andnevergotuncoiled.Ithadablackcanalinit,andariverthatranpurplewithill-smellingdye,andvastpilesofbuildingfullof

windowswheretherewasarattlingandatremblingalldaylong,andwherethepistonofthesteam-engineworkedmonotonouslyupand

down,liketheheadofanelephantinastareofmelancholymadness.’

D.H.Lawrence(1885-1930),Britishessayistand novelist,writing seventyyearsafter Dickens,described thechangein a villageinthe

coal-belt,changewhichhehadnotexperienced,butaboutwhichhehadheardfromolderpeople.

‘Eastwood…musthavebeenatinyvillageatthebeginningofthenineteenthcentury,asmallplaceofcottagesandfragmentaryrowsof

littlefour-roomedminers’dwellings,thehomesoftheoldcolliers…Butsomewhereabout1820thecompanymusthavesunkthefirstbig

shaft…andinstalledthefirstmachineryoftherealindustrialcolliery…Mostofthelittlerowsofdwellingswerepulleddown,anddulllittle

shops began to rise along the Nottingham Road, while on the down-slope…the company erected what is still known as the New

Buildings…littlefour-roomhouseslookingoutwardintothegrim,blankstreet,andthebacklookingintothedesertofthesquare,shutin

likeabarracksenclosure,verystrange.’

ACTIVITY3

Discuss the effects of early industrialisation on British towns and villages, and

comparethesewithsimilarsituationsinIndia.

ProtestMovements

Theearlydecadesofindustrialisationcoincidedwiththespreadofnewpoliticalideaspioneeredbythe

French Revolution (1789-94). The movements for ‘liberty, equality and fraternity’ showed the

possibilities of collective mass action, both in creating democratic institutions like the French

parliamentary assemblies of the 1790s, and in checking the worst hardships of war by controlling the

prices of necessities like bread. In England, political protest against the harsh working conditions in

factories kept increasing, and the working population agitated to be given the right to vote. The

governmentreactedbyrepressionandbynewlawsthatdeniedpeopletherighttoprotest.

EnglandhadbeenatwarwithFranceforalongtime–from1792to1815.TradebetweenEnglandand

Europe was disrupted, factories were forced to shut down, unemployment grew and the price of

essentialitemsoffood,likebreadandmeat,soaredtoheightsbeyondthelevelofaveragewages.

Parliamentin1795passedtwoCombinationActswhichmadeitillegalto‘incitethepeoplebyspeechor

writingtohatredorcontemptoftheKing,ConstitutionorGovernment’;andbannedunauthorisedpublic

meetings of over 50 persons. Protest, nonetheless, continued against ‘Old Corruption’. This term was

used for privileges linked to the monarchy and Parliament. Members of Parliament – landowners,

manufacturersandprofessionals–wereopposedtogivingtheworkingpopulationtherighttovote.They

supportedtheCornLaws,whichpreventedtheimportofcheaperfooduntilpricesinBritainhadrisento

acertainlevel.

Asworkersfloodedtownsandfactories,theyexpressedtheirangerandfrustrationinnumerousformsof

protest.Therewerebreadorfoodriotsthroughoutthecountryfromthe1790sonwards.Breadwasthe

stapleiteminthedietofthepooranditspricegovernedtheirstandardofliving.Stocksofbreadwere

seizedandsoldatapricethatwasaffordableandmorallycorrectratherthanatthehighpriceschargedby

profit-hungry traders. Such riotswere particularly frequent in the worst year of the war,1795, butthey

continueduntilthe1840s.

Anothercauseofhardshipwastheprocessknownas‘enclosure’–bywhich,fromthe1770s,hundredsof

smallfarmshadbeenmergedintothelargeronesofpowerfullandlords.Poorruralfamiliesaffectedby

thishadsoughtindustrialwork.Buttheintroductionofmachinesinthecottonindustrythrewthousandsof

handloom weavers out of work and into poverty, since their labour was too slow to compete with

machines.Fromthe1790s,theseweaversbegantodemandalegalminimumwage,whichwasrefusedby

Parliament.Whentheywentonstrike,theyweredispersedbyforce.Indesperation,inLancashire,cotton

weaversdestroyedthepowerloomswhichtheybelievedhaddestroyedtheirlivelihood.Therewasalso

resistance to the introduction ofmachines in thewoollen knitting industry in Nottingham; protests also

tookplaceinLeicestershireandDerbyshire.

InYorkshire,shearing-framesweredestroyedbycroppers,whohadtraditionallyshearedsheepbyhand.

In the riots of 1830, farm labourers found their jobs threatened by the new threshing machines that

separatedthegrainfromthehusk.Therioterssmashedthesemachines.Nineofthemwerehangedand450

weresenttoAustraliaasconvicts(seeTheme10).

The movement known as Luddism (1811-17), led by the charismatic General Ned Ludd, exemplified

anothertypeofprotest.Luddismwasnotmerelyabackward-lookingassaultonmachines.Itsparticipants

demandedaminimumwage,controloverthelabourofwomenandchildren,workforthosewhohadlost

theirjobsbecauseofthecomingofmachinery,andtherighttoformtradeunionssothattheycouldlegally

presentthesedemands.

Duringtheearlyyearsofindustrialisation, theworkingpopulationpossessedneitherthe votenorlegal

methodstoexpresstheirangeratthedrasticmannerinwhichtheirliveshadbeenoverturned.InAugust

1819,80,000peoplegatheredpeacefullyatStPeter’sFieldsinManchestertoclaimdemocraticrights–

of political organisation, of public meetings, and of the freedom of the press. They were suppressed

brutallyinwhatbecameknownasthePeterloo*Massacreandtherightstheydemandedweredeniedby

the Six Acts, passed by Parliamentthesame year. These extended the restrictions on political activity

introducedinthetwoCombinationActsof1795.Butthereweresomegains.AfterPeterloo,theneedto

make the House of Commons more representative was recognised by liberal political groups, and the

CombinationActswererepealedin1824-25.

*Thisnamewasmadeuptorhymewith‘Waterloo’;theFrencharmyhadbeendefeatedatWaterlooin1815.

ReformsthroughLaws

Howattentivewasthegovernmenttotheconditionsofworkofwomenandchildren?Lawswerepassed

in1819prohibitingtheemploymentofchildrenundertheageofnineinfactoriesandlimitingthehoursof

workof thosebetweentheagesof nine andsixteento12hoursa day. But this lawlacked thepowers

neededforitsenforcement.Itwasnotuntil1833,afterintenseprotestbyworkersthroughoutthenorthof

England,thatanActwaspassedthatpermittedchildrenunderninetobeemployedonlyinsilkfactories,

limitedthehoursofworkforolderchildrenandprovidedanumberoffactoryinspectorstoensurethatthe

Actwasenforced.Finally,in1847,aftermorethan30yearsofagitation,theTenHours’Billwaspassed.

Thislimitedthehoursofworkforwomenandyoungpeople,andsecureda10-hourdayformaleworkers.

ACTIVITY4

Argue the case for and against government regulation of conditions of work in

industries.

TheseActsappliedtothetextileindustriesbutnottotheminingindustry.TheMinesCommissionof1842,

setupbythegovernment,revealedthatworkingconditionsinmineshadactuallybecomeworsesincethe

Actof1833,becausemorechildrenhadbeenputtoworkincoalmines.TheMinesandCollieriesActof

1842bannedchildrenundertenandwomenfromworkingunderground.Fielder’sFactoryActlaiddown

in1847thatchildrenundereighteenandwomenshouldnotworkmorethan10hoursaday.Theselaws

weretobeenforcedbyfactoryinspectors,butthiswasdifficulttodo.Theinspectorswerepoorlypaid

andeasilybribedbyfactorymanagers,whileparentsliedabouttherealagesoftheirchildren,sothatthey

couldworkandcontributetofamilyincomes.

TheDebateonthe‘IndustrialRevolution’

Untilthe1970s,historiansusedtheterm‘industrialrevolution’forthechangesthatoccurredinBritain

fromthe1780stothe1820s.Fromthen,itwaschallenged,onvariousgrounds.

Industrialisationhadactuallybeentoogradualtobeconsidereda‘revolution’.Itcarriedprocessesthat

already existed towards new levels. Thus, there was a relatively greater concentration of workers in

factories,andawideruseofmoney.

Untilwellintothenineteenthcentury,largeregionsofEnglandremaineduntouchedbyfactoriesormines

and therefore the term ‘industrial revolution’ was regarded as inaccurate: England had changed in a

regionalmanner,prominentlyaroundthecitiesofLondon,Manchester,BirminghamorNewcastle,rather

thanthroughoutthecountry.

Couldthegrowthinthecottonorironindustriesorinforeigntradefromthe1780stothe1820sbecalled

revolutionary?Theimpressivegrowthofcottontextiles,basedonnewmachinery,wasinanindustrythat

reliedonanon-Britishrawmaterial,onsalesabroad(especiallyIndia),onnon-metallicmachinery,and

withfewlinkstootherbranchesof industry.Metallicmachineryandsteampowerwasrareuntilmuch

laterinthenineteenthcentury.TherapidgrowthinBritishimportsandexportsfromthe1780soccurred

because of the resumption of trade with North America that the War of American Independence had

interrupted.Thisgrowthwasrecordedasbeingsharponlybecauseitstartedfromalowpoint.

Indicatorsofeconomicchangeoccurringbeforeandafter1815-20suggestthatsustainedindustrialisation

wastobeseenafterratherthanbeforethesedates.Thedecadesafter1793hadexperiencedthedisruptive

effectsoftheFrenchRevolutionaryandNapoleonicWars.Industrialisationisassociatedwithagrowing

investment of the country’s wealth in ‘capital formation’, or building infrastructure and installing new

machinery,andwithraising the levelsof efficientuse ofthesefacilities, and with raisingproductivity.

Productiveinvestment,inthesesenses,grewsteadilyonlyafter1820,asdidlevelsofproductivity.The

cotton,ironandengineeringindustrieshadaccountedforlessthanhalfoftheindustrialoutputuntilthe

1840s.Technicalprogresswasnotlimitedtothesebranches,butwasvisibleinotherbranchestoo,like

agriculturalprocessingandpottery.

In searching for an answer as to why British growth may have been faster after 1815 than before,

historians have pointed to the fact that from the 1760s to 1815, Britain tried to do two things

simultaneously – to industrialise, and to fight wars in Europe, North America and India – and it may

possibly havefailed with one. Britain was atwarfor 36 out of 60 yearsfrom 1760.Capitalthat was

borrowedwasusedtofightthewarsratherthaninvested.Asmuchas35percentofthecostofthewar

was metby taxing people’s incomes.Workers weretransferred outof factories and farms to the army.

Foodpricesroseso sharplythat the poorhadlittlemoney leftfor buying consumergoods.Napoleon’s

policies of blockade, and British reactions to them, closed the European continent, the destination for

morethanhalfofBritishexports,toBritishtraders.

Theword‘industrial’usedwiththeword‘revolution’istoolimited.Thetransformationextendedbeyond

theeconomicorindustrialsphereandintosocietyandgaveprominencetotwoclasses:thebourgeoisie

andthenewclassofproletarianlabourersintownsandinthecountryside.

In1851,visitorsthrongedtheGreatExhibitionatthespeciallyconstructedCrystalPalaceinLondonto

viewtheachievementsofBritishindustry.Atthattime,halfthepopulationwaslivingintowns,butofthe

workers in towns as many were in handicraft units as in factories. From the 1850s, the proportion of

people living in urban areas went up dramatically, and most of these were workers in industry – the

working class. Only 20percent ofBritain’s workforcenow lived inruralareas. This was afarmore

rapidrateofindustrialisationthanhadbeenwitnessedinotherEuropeancountries.Inhisdetailedstudy

ofBritishindustry,thehistorianA.E.Mussonhassuggestedthat‘Therearegoodgroundsforregardingthe

period 1850-1914 as that in which the Industrial Revolution really occurred, on a massive scale,

transformingthewholeeconomyandsocietymuchmorewidelyanddeeplythantheearlierchangeshad

done.’

TheGreatExhibitionof1851displayed“theWorksofIndustryofallNations”,particularlythespectacularprogressofBritain.It

washeldinLondon’sHydePark,intheCrystalPalace,madeofglasspanessetinironcolumnsmanufacturedinBirmingham.



Exercises

Answerinbrief

1.HowdidBritain’sinvolvementinwarsfrom1793to1815affectBritishindustries?

2.Whatweretherelativeadvantagesofcanalandrailwaytransportation?

3.Whatweretheinterestingfeaturesofthe‘inventions’ofthisperiod?

4.IndicatehowthesupplyofrawmaterialsaffectedthenatureofBritishindustrialisation.



Answerinashortessay

5.HowwerethelivesofdifferentclassesofBritishwomenaffectedbytheIndustrialRevolution?

6.Comparetheeffectsofthecomingoftherailwaysindifferentcountriesintheworld.

DisplacingIndigenousPeoples

This chapter recounts some aspects of the histories of the native peoples of America and Australia.

Theme8describedthehistoryofthe Spanish and Portuguesecolonisation ofSouth America.Fromthe

eighteenth century, more areas of South America, Central America, North America, South Africa,

AustraliaandNewZealandcametobesettledbyimmigrantsfromEurope.Thisledtomanyofthenative

peoples beingpushedoutintootherareas.TheEuropeansettlementswerecalled‘colonies’.Whenthe

European inhabitants of the colonies became independent of the European ‘mother-country’, these

coloniesbecame‘states’orcountries.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, people from Asian countries also migrated to some of these

countries.Today,theseEuropeansandAsiansformthemajorityinthesecountries,andthenumberofthe

nativeinhabitantsareverysmall.Theyarehardlyseeninthetowns,andpeoplehaveforgottenthatthey

once occupied much of the country, and that the names of many rivers, towns, etc. are derived from

‘native’names(e.g.Ohio,MississippiandSeattleintheUSA,SaskatchewaninCanada,Wollongongand

ParramattainAustralia).



Tillthemiddleofthetwentiethcentury,AmericanandAustralianhistorytextbooksusedtodescribehow

Europeans‘discovered’theAmericasandAustralia.Theyhardlymentionedthenativepeoplesexceptto

suggestthattheywerehostiletoEuropeans.Thesepeopleswere,however,studiedbyanthropologistsin

Americafromthe1840s.Muchlater,fromthe1960s,thenativepeopleswereencouragedtowritetheir

ownhistoriesortodictatethem(thisiscalledoralhistory).

Today,it ispossible toreadhistoricalworks andfictionwrittenby thenative peoples,andvisitorsto

museums in these countries will see galleries of ‘native art’ and special museums which show the

aboriginalwayoflife.ThenewNationalMuseumoftheAmericanIndianintheUSAhasbeencuratedby

AmericanIndiansthemselves.

EuropeanImperialism

TheAmericanempiresofSpainandPortugal(seeTheme8)didnotexpandaftertheseventeenthcentury.

Fromthattimeothercountries–France,HollandandEngland–begantoextendtheirtradingactivities

andtoestablishcolonies–inAmerica,AfricaandAsia;IrelandalsowasvirtuallyacolonyofEngland,

asthelandownersthereweremostlyEnglishsettlers.

From the eighteenth century, it became obvious that while it was the prospect of profit which drove

peopletoestablishcolonies,thereweresignificantvariationsinthenatureofthecontrolestablished.

In South Asia, trading companieslike the East India Company made themselves into politicalpowers,

defeatedlocalrulersandannexedtheirterritories.Theyretainedtheolderwell-developedadministrative

system and collected taxesfromlandowners. Later they built railways to maketradeeasier, excavated

minesandestablishedbigplantations.

InAfrica,Europeanstradedonthecoast,exceptinSouthAfrica,andonlyinthelatenineteenthcentury

did they venture into the interior. After this, some of the European countries reached an agreement to

divideupAfricaascoloniesforthemselves.

The word ‘settler’ is used for the Dutch in South Africa, the British in Ireland, New Zealand and

Australia,andtheEuropeansinAmerica.TheofficiallanguageinthesecolonieswasEnglish(exceptin

Canada,whereFrenchisalsoanofficiallanguage).

NamesgivenbyEuropeanstoCountriesofthe‘NewWorld’

‘America’FirstusedafterthepublicationofthetravelsofAmerigoVespucci(1451-1512)

‘Canada’fromkanata(=‘village’inthelanguageoftheHuron-Iroquois,asheardbytheexplorerJacquesCartierin1535)

‘Australia’Sixteenth-centurynameforlandintheGreatSouthernOcean(australisLatinfor‘south’)

‘NewZealand’NamegivenbyTasmanofHolland,whowasthefirsttosighttheseislandsin1642(zeeisDutchfor‘sea’)

TheGeographicalDictionary(pp805-22)listsoverahundredplace-namesintheAmericasandAustraliawhichbeginwith‘New’.

NorthAmerica

ThecontinentofNorthAmericaextendsfromtheArcticCircletotheTropicofCancer,fromthePacific

totheAtlanticOcean.WestofthechainoftheRockyMountainsisthedesertofArizonaandNevada,still

furtherwesttheSierraNevadamountains,totheeasttheGreatPlains,theGreatLakes,thevalleysofthe

Mississippi and the Ohio and the Appalachian Mountains. To the south is Mexico. Forty per cent of

Canadaiscoveredwithforests.Oil,gasandmineralresourcesarefoundinmanyareas,whichexplains

themanybigindustriesintheUSAandCanada.Today,wheat,cornandfruitaregrownextensivelyand

fishingisamajorindustryinCanada.

Mining,industryandextensiveagriculturehavebeendevelopedonlyinthelast200yearsbyimmigrants

from Europe, Africa and China. But there were people who had been living in North America for

thousandsofyearsbeforetheEuropeanslearntofitsexistence.

TheNativePeoples

TheearliestinhabitantsofNorthAmericacamefromAsiaover30,000yearsagoonaland-bridgeacross

the Bering Straits, and during the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago they moved further south. The oldest

artefactfoundinAmerica–anarrow-point–is11,000yearsold.Thepopulationstartedtoincreaseabout

5,000yearsagowhentheclimatebecamemorestable.

‘Native’meansapersonbornintheplacehe/shelivesin.Tilltheearlytwentiethcentury,thetermwas

usedbyEuropeanstodescribetheinhabitantsofcountriestheyhadcolonised.

‘Atsunseton the daybeforeAmerica[thatis,before theEuropeansreachedthereand gavethecontinentthis name],diversitylayat

every hand. People spoke in more than a hundred tongues. They lived by every possible combination of hunting, fishing, gathering,

gardening,andfarmingopentothem.Thequalityofsoilsandtheeffortrequiredtoopenandtendthemdeterminedsomeoftheirchoices

ofhowtolive.Culturalandsocialbiasesdeterminedothers.Surplusesoffishorgrainorgardenplantsormeatshelpedcreatepowerful,

tieredsocietiesherebutnotthere.Somecultureshadenduredformillennia…’–WilliamMacleish,TheDaybeforeAmerica.

These peoples lived in bands, in villages along river valleys. They ate fish and meat, and cultivated

vegetablesandmaize.Theyoftenwentonlongjourneysinsearchofmeat,chieflythatofbison,thewild

buffalo that roamed the grasslands (this became easier from the seventeenth century, when the natives

startedtoridehorses,whichtheyboughtfromSpanishsettlers).Buttheyonlykilledasmanyanimalsas

theyneededforfood.

Theydidnotattemptextensiveagricultureandsincetheydidnotproduceasurplus,theydidnotdevelop

kingdomsandempiresasinCentralandSouthAmerica.Thereweresomeinstancesofquarrelsbetween

tribesoverterritory,butbyandlargecontroloflandwasnotanissue.Theywerecontentwiththefood

and shelter they got from the land without feeling any need to ‘own’ it. An important feature of their

traditionwasthatofmakingformalalliancesandfriendships,andexchanginggifts.Goodswereobtained

notbybuyingthem,butasgifts.

Wampumbelts,madeofcolouredshellssewntogether,wereexchangedbynativetribesafteratreatywasagreedto.

NumerouslanguageswerespokeninNorthAmerica,thoughthesewerenotwrittendown.Theybelieved

thattimemovedincycles,andeachtribehadaccountsabouttheiroriginsandtheirearlierhistorywhich

were passed on from one generation to the next. They were skilled craftspeople and wove beautiful

textiles.Theycouldreadtheland–theycouldunderstandtheclimatesanddifferentlandscapesintheway

literatepeoplereadwrittentexts.

EncounterswithEuropeans

DifferenttermsareusedinEnglishforthenativepeoplesofthe‘NewWorld’

aborigine–nativepeopleofAustralia(inLatin,ab=from,origine=thebeginning)

Aboriginal–adjective,oftenmisusedasanoun

American Indian/Amerind/Amerindian – native peoples of North and South America and the

Caribbean

First Nations peoples – the organised native groups recognised by the Canadian government (the

IndiansActof1876usedtheterm‘bands’butfromthe1980stheword‘nations’isused)

indigenouspeople–peoplebelongingnaturallytoaplace

nativeAmerican–theindigenouspeopleoftheAmericas(thisisthetermnowcommonlyused)

‘RedIndian’–thebrown-complexionedpeoplewhoselandColumbusmistookforIndia

AwomanoftheWinnebagotribeofWisconsin.Inthe1860s,peopleofthistribeweremovedtoNebraska



Namesofnativetribesareoftengiventothingsunconnectedwiththem:Dakota(anaeroplane),Cherokee

(ajeep),Pontiac(acar),

Mohawk(ahaircut)!



‘ItwasindicatedonthestonetabletsthattheHopis*hadthatthefirstbrothersandsistersthatwouldcomebacktothemwouldcomeas

turtlesacrosstheland.Theywouldbehumanbeings,buttheywouldcomeasturtles.SowhenthetimecameclosetheHopiswereata

specialvillagetowelcometheturtlesthatwouldcomeacrossthelandandtheygotupinthemorningandlookedoutatthesunrise.They

lookedoutacrossthedesertandtheysawtheSpanishConquistadorescoming,coveredinarmour,liketurtlesacrosstheland.Sothiswas

them.SotheywentouttotheSpanishmanandtheyextendedtheir hand hopingforthehandshakebutintothe hand theSpanishman

dropped a trinket. And so word spread throughout North America that there was going to be a hard time, that maybe some of the

brothersandsistershadforgottenthesacrednessofallthingsandallthehumanbeingsweregoingtosufferforthisontheearth.’

–FromatalkbyLeeBrown,1986

*TheHopisareanativetribewhonowlivenearCalifornia.

In the seventeenth century, the European traders who reached thenorth coast of North America after a

difficulttwo-monthvoyagewererelievedtofindthenativepeoplesfriendlyandwelcoming.Unlikethe

SpanishinSouthAmerica,whowereovercomebytheabundanceofgoldinthecountry,theseadventurers

cametotradeinfishandfurs,inwhichtheygotthewillinghelpofthenativeswhowereexpertathunting.

Further south, along the Mississippi river, the French found that the natives held regular gatherings to

exchangehandicraftsuniquetoatribeorfooditemsnotavailableinotherregions.Inexchangeforlocal

productstheEuropeansgave the nativesblankets,iron vessels(whichtheyusedsometimesin placeof

theirclaypots),guns,whichwasausefulsupplementforbowsandarrowstokillanimals,andalcohol.

Thislastitemwassomethingthe nativeshadnot known earlier,andtheybecameaddictedtoit,which

suitedtheEuropeans,becauseitenabledthemtodictatetermsoftrade.(TheEuropeansacquiredfromthe

nativesanaddiction

totobacco.)

MutualPerceptions

Intheeighteenthcentury,westernEuropeansdefined‘civilised’peopleintermsofliteracy,anorganised

religionandurbanism.Tothem,thenativesofAmericaappeared‘uncivilised’.Tosome,liketheFrench

philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, such people were to be admired, as they were untouched by the

corruptionsof‘civilisation’.Apopulartermwas‘thenoblesavage’.SomelinesinapoembytheEnglish

poet William Wordsworth indicate another perspective. Neither he nor Rousseau had met a native

American, but Wordsworth described them as living ‘amid wilds/Where fancy hath small liberty to

grace/Theaffections,toexaltthemorrefine’,meaningthatpeoplelivingclosetonaturehadonlylimited

powersofimaginationandemotion!

Itisinterestingtonotethatanotherwriter,WashingtonIrving,muchyoungerthanWordsworthandwhohadactuallymetnativepeople,

describedthemquitedifferently.

‘TheIndiansIhavehadanopportunityofseeinginreallifearequitedifferentfromthosedescribedinpoetry…Taciturntheyare,itis

true,whenincompanywithwhitemen,whosegoodwilltheydistrustandwhoselanguagetheydonotunderstand;butthewhitemanis

equally taciturn under like circumstances. When the Indians are among themselves, they are great mimics, and entertain themselves

excessivelyattheexpenseofthewhites…whohavesupposedthemimpressedwithprofoundrespectfortheirgrandeuranddignity…

Thewhitemen(asIhavewitnessed)arepronetotreatthepoorIndiansaslittlebetterthananimals.’

ThomasJefferson,thirdPresidentoftheUSA,andacontemporaryofWordsworth,spokeofthenativesinwordsthatwouldleadtoa

publicoutcrytoday:

‘Thisunfortunateracewhichwehavebeentakingsomuchpainstocivilise…havejustifiedextermination.’

To the natives, the goods they exchanged with the Europeans were gifts, given in friendship. For the

Europeans,dreamingofbecomingrich,thefishandfurswerecommodities,whichtheywouldsellfora

profitinEurope.Thepricesofthegoodstheysoldvariedfromyeartoyear,dependingonthesupply.The

natives could not understand this – they had no sense of the ‘market’ in faraway Europe. They were

puzzledby the factthattheEuropeantraderssometimesgavethemalot ofthingsinexchangefor their

goods, sometimes very little. They were also saddened by the greed of the Europeans*. In their

impatience to get furs, they had slaughtered hundreds of beavers, and the natives were very uneasy,

fearingthattheanimalswouldtakerevengeonthemforthisdestruction.

FollowingthefirstEuropeans,whoweretraders,werethosewhocameto‘settle’inAmerica.Fromthe

seventeenthcentury,thereweregroupsofEuropeanswhowerebeingpersecutedbecausetheywereofa

different sect of Christianity (Protestants living in predominantly Catholic countries, or Catholics in

countrieswhereProtestantismwastheofficialreligion).ManyofthemleftEuropeandwenttoAmerica

tobeginanewlife.Aslongastherewasvacantland,thiswasnotaproblem,butgraduallytheEuropeans

movedfurtherinland,nearnativevillages.Theyusedtheirirontoolstocutdownforeststolayoutfarms.

*Many folk tales of the natives mocked Europeans and described them as greedy and deceitful, but because these were told as

imaginarystories,itwasonlymuchlaterthattheEuropeansunderstoodthereferences.

Natives and Europeans saw different things when they looked at forests – natives identified tracks

invisible to the Europeans. Europeans imagined the forests cut down and replaced by cornfields.

Jefferson’s ‘dream’ was a country populated by Europeans with small farms. The natives, who grew

crops for their own needs, not for sale and profit, and thought it wrong to ‘own’ the land, could not

understandthis.InJefferson’sview,thismadethem‘uncivilised’.

ACTIVITY1

DiscussthedifferentimagesthatEuropeansandnativeAmericanshadofeachother,

andthedifferentwaysinwhichtheysawnature.

Map1:TheexpansionoftheUSA

ThecountriesthatareknownasCanadaandtheUnitedStatesofAmericacameintoexistenceattheend

oftheeighteenthcentury.Atthattimetheyoccupiedonlyafractionofthelandtheynowcover.Overthe

nexthundredyearstheyextendedtheircontrolovermoreterritory,toreachtheirpresentsize.Largeareas

were acquired by the USA by purchase – they bought land in the south from France (the ‘Louisiana

Purchase’)andfromRussia(Alaska),andbywar–muchofsouthernUSAwaswonfromMexico.Itdid

notoccurtoanyonethattheconsentofnativeslivingintheseareasshouldhavebeenasked.Thewestern

‘frontier’oftheUSAwasashiftingone,andasitmoved,thenativesalsowereforcedtomoveback.



ThelandscapesofAmericachangeddrasticallyinthenineteenthcentury.TheEuropeanstreatedtheland

differentlyfromthenatives.SomeofthemigrantsfromBritainandFrancewereyoungersonswhowould

not inherit their fathers’ property and therefore were eager to own land in America. Later, there were

waves of immigrants from countries like Germany, Sweden and Italy who had lost their lands to big

farmers, and wanted farms they could own. People from Poland were happy to work in the prairie

grasslands, which reminded themof the steppes of theirhomes,and wereexcited at being able to buy

hugepropertiesatverylowprices.Theyclearedlandanddevelopedagriculture,introducingcrops(rice

andcotton)whichcouldnotgrowinEuropeandthereforecouldbesoldthereforprofit.Toprotecttheir

hugefarmsfromwildanimals–wolvesandmountainlions–thesewerehuntedtoextinction.Theyfelt

totallysecureonlywiththeinventionofbarbedwirein1873.

Theclimate ofthe southern region was toohot forEuropeans toworkoutdoors, and the experienceof

SouthAmericancolonieshadshownthatthenativeswhohadbeenenslavedhaddiedinlargenumbers.

PlantationownersthereforeboughtslavesinAfrica.Protestsbyanti-slaverygroupsledtoabanonslave

trade,buttheAfricanswhowereintheUSAremainedslaves,asdidtheirchildren.

AranchinColorado.

The northern states of the USA, where the economy did not depend on plantations (and therefore on

slavery),arguedforendingslaverywhichtheycondemnedasaninhumanpractice.In1861-65,therewas

a war between the states thatwanted to retain slavery and those supporting abolition. The latter won.

Slaverywasabolished,thoughitwasonlyinthetwentiethcenturythattheAfricanAmericanswereable

to win the battle for civilliberties, and segregation between ‘whites’ and ‘non-whites’ in schools and

publictransportwasended.

TheCanadiangovernmenthadaproblemwhichwasnottobesolvedforalongtime,andwhichseemed

moreurgentthanthequestionofthenatives–in1763CanadahadbeenwonbytheBritishafterawar

withFrance.TheFrenchsettlersrepeatedlydemandedautonomouspoliticalstatus.Itwasonlyin1867

thatthisproblemwassolvedbyorganisingcanadaasaConfederationofautonomousstates.

TheNativePeoplesLosetheirLand

In the USA, as settlementexpanded,the nativeswereinduced or forced to move,after signingtreaties

sellingtheirland.Thepricespaidwereverylow,andtherewereinstanceswhentheAmericans(aterm

used to mean theEuropean people of the USA) cheated them by taking more land or paying less than

promised.

Evenhighofficialssawnothingwrongindeprivingthenativepeoplesoftheirland.Thisisseenbyan

episodeinGeorgia,astateintheUSA.OfficialshadarguedthattheCherokeetribewasgovernedbystate

laws,butcouldnotenjoytherightsofcitizens.(Thiswasdespitethefactthat,ofallthenativepeoples,

the Cherokees were the ones who had made the most effort to learn English and to understand the

Americanwayoflife;evensotheywerenotallowedtherightsofcitizens.)

In1832,animportantjudgmentwasannouncedbytheUSChiefJustice,JohnMarshall.Hesaidthatthe

Cherokeeswere‘adistinctcommunity,occupyingitsownterritoryinwhichthelawsofGeorgiahadno

force’,andthattheyhadsovereigntyincertainmatters.USPresidentAndrewJacksonhadareputationfor

fighting against economic and political privilege, but when it came to the Indians, he was a different

person. He refused to honour the Chief Justice’s judgment, and ordered the US army to evict the

CherokeesfromtheirlandanddrivethemtotheGreatAmericanDesert.Ofthe15,000peoplethusforced

togo,overaquarterdiedalongthe‘TrailofTears’.

Thosewhotookthelandoccupiedbythetribesjustifieditbysayingthenativesdidnotdeservetooccupy

landwhichtheydidnotusetothemaximum.Theywentontocriticisethemforbeinglazy,sincetheydid

notusetheircraftsskillstoproducegoodsforthemarket,fornotbeinginterestedinlearningEnglishor

dressing ‘correctly’ (which meant like the Europeans). They deserved to ‘die out’, they argued. The

prairies were cleared for farmland, and wild bison killedoff. ‘Primitive man will disappearwith the

primitiveanimal’wroteavisitingFrenchman.

Meanwhile,thenatives were pushed westward, given land elsewhere (‘theirsin perpetuity’)but often

movedagainifanymineral–leadorgold–oroilwasfoundontheirlands.Manytribeswereforcedto

sharethelandoriginallyoccupiedbyonetribe,thusleadingtoquarrelsbetweenthem.Theywerelocked

offinsmallareascalled‘reservations’,whichoftenwaslandwithwhichtheyhadnoearlierconnection.

Theydidnotgiveinwithoutafight.TheUSarmycrushedaseriesofrebellionsfrom1865to1890,and

inCanadatherewerearmedrevoltsbytheMetis(peopleofnativeEuropeandescent)between1869and

1885.Butafterthattheygaveup.



In1854,thePresidentoftheUSAreceivedaletterfromanativeleader,ChiefSeattle.Thepresidenthadaskedthechieftosignatreaty

givingalargepartofthelandtheylivedontotheAmericangovernment.TheChiefreplied:

‘Howcanyoubuyorsellthesky,thewarmthoftheland?Theideaisstrangetous.Ifyoudonotownthefreshnessoftheairandthe

sparkleofthewater, howcanone buythem? Everypartoftheearth issacred to mypeople. Every shiningpine-needle,everysandy

shore,everymistinthedarkwoods,everyclearingandeveryhumminginsectisholyinthememoryandexperienceofmypeople.The

sapwhichcoursesthroughthetreescarriesthememoriesoftheredman…

So,whentheGreatChiefinWashingtonsendswordthathewishestobuyourland,heasksmuchofus.TheGreatChiefsendswordthat

hewillreserveusaplacesothatwecanlivecomfortably.Hewillbeourfatherandwewillbehischildren.Sowewillconsideryour

offertobuyourland.Butitwillnotbeeasy.Forthislandissacredtous.Theshiningwaterthatmovesinthestreamsandriversisnot

justwaterbutthebloodofourancestors.Ifwesellyouland,youmustrememberthatitissacredandyoumustteachyourchildrenthatit

is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The

water’smurmuristhevoiceofmyfather’sfather…’

Anthropology

Itis significantthatitwas atthis time(fromthe 1840s)thatthesubject of ‘anthropology’(whichhad beendeveloped in France) was

introduced in North America, out of a curiosity to study the differences between native ‘primitive’ communities and the ‘civilised’

communitiesofEurope.Someanthropologistsarguedthatjustastherewereno‘primitive’peopletobefoundinEurope,theAmerican

nativestoowould‘dieout’.

Anativelodge,1862.ArchaeologistsmovedthisfromthemountainsandplaceditinamuseuminWyoming.

TheGoldRush,andtheGrowthofIndustries

MovingtoCaliforniaaspartofthe‘GoldRush’,photograph.

TherewasalwaysthehopethattherewasgoldinNorthAmerica.Inthe1840s,tracesofgoldwerefound

intheUSA,in California. This led to the ‘GoldRush’,when thousands of eagerEuropeanshurried to

America in the hope of making a quick fortune. This led to the building of railway lines across

thecontinent,forwhichthousandsofChineseworkerswererecruited.TheUSA’srailwaywascompleted

by1870,thatofCanadaby1885.‘Theoldnationscreeponatasnail’space’saidAndrewCarnegie,a

poor immigrant from Scotland who became one of the first millionaire industrialists in the USA, ‘the

Republicthundersonatthespeedofanexpress’.

OnereasonwhytheIndustrialRevolutionhappenedinEnglandwhenitdidwasbecausesmallpeasants

werelosingtheirlandtobigfarmers,andmovingtojobsinfactories(seeTheme9).InNorthAmerica,

industriesdevelopedforverydifferentreasons–tomanufacturerailwayequipmentsothatrapidtransport

could link distant places, and to produce machinery which would make large-scale farming easier.

Industrialtownsgrewandfactoriesmultiplied,bothintheUSAandCanada.In1860,theUSAhadbeen

anundevelopedeconomy.In1890,itwastheleadingindustrialpowerintheworld.

Large-scaleagriculturealsoexpanded.Vastareaswereclearedanddividedupintofarms.By1890,the

bisonhadalmostbeenexterminated,thusendingthelifeofhuntingthenativeshadfollowedforcenturies.

In 1892, the USA’s continental expansion was complete. The area between the Pacific and Atlantic

Oceans was divided up into states. There no longer remained the ‘frontier’ that had pulled European

settlerswestformanydecades.WithinafewyearstheUSAwassettingupitsowncolonies–inHawaii

andthePhilippines.Ithadbecomeanimperialpower.

Below:TheranchontheprairiethatwasthedreamofpoorEuropeanimmigrants,photograph.

Above:ImmigrantswelcomedbytheUSA,colourprint,1909.

ConstitutionalRights

The‘democraticspirit’whichhadbeentherallyingcryofthesettlersintheirfightforindependenceinthe

1770s,cametodefinetheidentityoftheUSAagainstthemonarchiesandaristocraciesoftheOldWorld.

Alsoimportanttothemwasthattheirconstitutionincludedtheindividual’s‘righttoproperty’,whichthe

statecouldnotoverride.

Butbothdemocraticrights(therighttovoteforrepresentativestoCongressandforthePresident)andthe

right to property were only for white men. Daniel Paul, a Canadian native, pointed out in 2000 that

Thomas Paine, the champion ofdemocracy at the time of the War for American Independence and the

FrenchRevolution,‘usedtheIndiansasmodelsofhowsocietymightbeorganized’.Heusedthistoargue

that‘theNativeAmericansbytheirexamplesowedtheseedsforthelong-drawn-outmovementtowards

democracybythepeopleofEurope’(WeWereNottheSavages,p.333)

KarlMarx(1818-83),thegreatGermanphilosopher,describedtheAmericanfrontieras‘thelastpositive

capitalistutopia…thelimitlessnatureandspacetowhichthelimitlessthirstforprofitadaptsitself’.

–‘BastiatandCarey’,Grundrisse

TheWindsofChange…

Nottillthe1920sdidthingsbegintoimproveforthenativepeoplesoftheUSAandCanada.TheProblem

ofIndianAdministration,asurveydirectedbysocialscientistLewisMeriamandpublishedin1928,only

a few years before the USA was swept by a major economic depression that affected all its people,

paintedagrimpictureoftheterriblypoorhealthandeducationfacilitiesfornativesinreservations.

WhiteAmericansfeltsympathyforthenativeswhowerebeingdiscouragedfromthefullexerciseoftheir

culturesandsimultaneouslydeniedthebenefitsofcitizenship.ThisledtoalandmarklawintheUSA,the

Indian Reorganisation Act of 1934, which gave natives in reservations the right to buy land and take

loans.

Inthe1950sand1960s,theUSandCanadiangovernmentsthoughtofendingallspecialprovisionsforthe

nativesinthehopethattheywould‘jointhemainstream’,thatis,adoptEuropeanculture.Butthenatives

didnot wantthis. In 1954, in the‘Declaration of IndianRights’ prepared by them, a number ofnative

peoplesacceptedcitizenshipoftheUSAbutonconditionthattheirreservationswouldnotbetakenaway

andtheirtraditionswouldnotbeinterferedwith.AsimilardevelopmentoccurredinCanada.In1969the

governmentannouncedthattheywould‘notrecogniseaboriginalrights’.Thenatives,inawell-organised

opposition move, held a series of demonstrationsand debates. The question could not be resolvedtill

1982,when theConstitution Act acceptedtheexistingaboriginalandtreaty rightsofthenatives.Many

details remain to be worked out. Today, it is clear that the native peoples of both countries, though

reducedsomuchinnumbersfromwhattheyhadbeenintheeighteenthcentury,havebeenabletoassert

theirrighttotheirownculturesand,particularlyinCanada,totheirsacredlands,inawaytheirancestors

couldnothavedoneinthe1880s.

Indians under British rule Taxed arbitrarily; seen as not equal (rationalisation – not ready for responsibility of representative

government)

NativesinAmericaandAustraliaNotseenascitizens;notequal(rationalisation‘primitive’asinnosettledagriculture,provisionfor

thefuture,towns)

AfricanslavesinAmericaDeniedpersonalliberty;notequal(rationalisation–‘Slaveryispartoftheirownsocialsystem’,blackpeople

areinferior)



ACTIVITY3

CommentonthefollowingstatementbytheAmericanhistorianHowardSpodek:

‘For the indigenous [people] the effects of the American Revolution were exactly

oppositetothoseofthesettlers –expansion becamecontraction,democracybecame

tyranny,prosperitybecamepoverty,andlibertybecameconfinement.’

AUSTRALIA

AsintheAmericas,humanhabitationinAustraliahasalonghistory.The‘aborigines’(ageneralname

giventoanumberofdifferentsocieties)begantoarriveonthecontinentover40,000yearsago(possibly

evenearlier).TheycamefromNewGuinea,whichwasconnectedtoAustraliabyaland-bridge.Inthe

natives’traditions,theydidnotcometoAustralia, but had always beenthere. Thepastcenturieswere

calledthe‘Dreamtime’–somethingdifficultforEuropeanstounderstand,sincethedistinctionbetween

pastandpresentisblurred.

Inthelateeighteenthcentury,therewerebetween350and750nativecommunitiesinAustraliaeachwith

its own language (even today 200 of these languages are spoken). There is another large group of

indigenouspeoplelivinginthenorth,calledtheTorresStraitIslanders.Theterm‘Aborigine’isnotused

fortheseastheyarebelievedtohavemigratedfromelsewhereandbelongtoadifferentrace.Together,

theymakeup2.4percentofAustralia’spopulationin2005.

Australiaissparselypopulated,andevennowmostofthetownsarealongthecoast(wheretheBritish

firstarrivedin1770)becausethecentralregionisariddesert.

MAP2:Australia

ThestoryoftheinteractionbetweentheEuropeansettlers,thenativepeoplesandthelandinAustraliahas

many points of similarity to the story of the Americas, though it began nearly 300 years later. Initial

reports from Captain Cook and his crew about encounters with natives are enthusiastic about their

friendliness.TherewasasharpreversaloffeelingonthepartoftheBritishwhenCookwaskilledbya

native–notinAustralia,butinHawaii.Asoftenhappened,asingleincidentofthisnaturewasusedby

coloniserstojustifysubsequentactsofviolencetowardsotherpeople.

ADescriptionoftheSydneyAreain1790

‘Aboriginal production had beendramatically disturbed bytheBritishpresence. The arrival of a thousand hungry mouths, followed by

hundredsmore,putunprecedentedpressureonlocalfoodresources.

So what wouldthe Daruk people havethought of all this? To them such large-scaledestruction of sacred places and strange, violent

behaviour towards their land was inexplicable. The newcomers seemed to knock down trees without any reason, for they were not

makingcanoes, gatheringbushhoneyorcatching animals.Stonesweremovedandstacked together, clay dug up,shapedand cooked,

holesweremadeintheground,largeunwieldystructuresbuilt.Atfirsttheymayhaveequatedtheclearingwiththecreationofasacred

ceremonialground…Perhapstheythoughtahugeritualgatheringwastobeheld,dangerousbusinessfromwhichtheyshouldsteerwell

clear. There is no doubt the Daruks subsequently avoided the settlement, for the only way to bring them back was by an official

kidnapping.’

–(P.Grimshaw,M.Lake,A.McGrath,M.Quartly,CreatingaNation)

Theydidnotforeseethatinthenineteenthandtwentiethcenturiesnearly90percentofthemwoulddieby

exposure to germs, by the loss of their lands and resources, and in battles against the settlers. The

experimentofsettlingBrazilwithPortugueseconvictshadbeenabandonedwhentheirviolentbehaviour

provoked angry reprisals fromthenatives.The British had adoptedthe samepractice inthe American

colonies until they became independent. Then they continued it in Australia. Most of the early settlers

wereconvictswho hadbeendeportedfromEnglandand,when theirjail termended,wereallowedto

liveasfreepeopleinAustraliaonconditionthattheydidnotreturntoBritain.Withnorecoursebutto

makealifeforthemselvesinthislandsodifferentfromtheirown,theyfeltnohesitationaboutejecting

nativesfromlandtheytookoverforcultivation.

TheeconomicdevelopmentofAustraliaunderEuropeansettlementwasnotasvariedasinAmerica.Vast

sheepfarmsandminingstationswereestablishedoveralongperiodandwithmuchlabour,followedby

vineyardsandwheatfarming.Thesecametoformthebasisofthecountry’sprosperity.Whenthestates

were united, and it was decided that a new capital would be built for Australia in 1911, one name

suggested for it was Woolwheatgold! Ultimately, it was called Canberra (= kamberra, a native word

meaning‘meetingplace’).

ACTIVITY4

In1911,itwasannouncedthatNewDelhiandCanberrawouldbebuiltasthecapital

citiesofBritishIndiaandoftheCommonwealthofAustralia.Compareandcontrast

thepoliticalsituationsofthenativepeopleinthesecountriesatthattime.

Somenativeswereemployedinfarms,underconditionsofworksoharshthatitwaslittledifferentfrom

slavery. Later, Chinese immigrants provided cheap labour, as in California, but unease about being

dependentonnon-whitesledtothegovernmentsinbothcountriestobanChineseimmigrants.Till1974,

suchwasthepopularfearthat‘dark’peoplefromSouthAsiaorSoutheastAsiamightmigratetoAustralia

inlargenumbersthattherewasagovernmentpolicytokeep‘non-white’peopleout.

TheWindsofChange…

In1968,peoplewereelectrifiedbyalecturebytheanthropologistW.E.H.Stanner,entitled‘TheGreat

AustralianSilence’–thesilenceofhistoriansabouttheaborigines.Fromthe1970s,aswashappeningin

North America, there was an eagerness to understand natives not as anthropological curiosities but as

communities with distinct cultures, unique ways of understanding nature and climate, with a sense of

community which had vast bodies of stories, textile and painting and carving skills, which should be

understoodandrecordedandrespected.UnderlyingitallwastheurgentquestionwhichHenryReynolds

later articulated in a powerful book, Why Weren’t We Told? This condemned the practice of writing

AustralianhistoryasthoughithadbegunwithCaptainCook’s‘discovery’.

Since then, university departments have been instituted to study native cultures, galleries of native art

havebeenaddedtoartgalleries,museumshavebeenenlargedtoincorporatedioramasandimaginatively

designedroomsexplaining nativeculture,andnativeshavebegunwritingtheir own lifehistories.This

hasbeenawonderfuleffort.Ithasalsooccurredatacriticaltime,becauseifnativecultureshadremained

ignored,bythistimemuchofsuchcultureswouldhavebeenforgotten.From1974,‘multiculturalism’has

beenofficialpolicyinAustralia,whichgaveequalrespecttonativeculturesandtothedifferentcultures

oftheimmigrantsfromEuropeandAsia.

‘Kathymysisterwiththetornheart,

Idon’tknowhowtothankyou

Foryourdreamtimestoriesofjoyandgrief

Writtenonpaperbark.

Youwereoneofthedarkchildren

Iwasn’tallowedtoplaywith–

Riverbankcampers,thewrongcolour

(Icouldn’tturnyouwhite.)

SoitwaslateImetyou,

LateIbegantoknow

Theyhadn’ttoldmethelandIloved

Wastakenoutofyourhands.’

–‘TwoDreamtimes’,writtenforOodgerooNoonuccal

JudithWright(1915-2000),anAustralianwriter,wasachampionoftherightsoftheAustralianaborigines.Shewrotemanymoving

poemsaboutthelosscreatedbykeepingthewhitepeopleandthenativesapart.

From the 1970s, as the term ‘human rights’ began to be heard at meetings of the UNO and other

international agencies,theAustralian publicrealised with dismay that, in contrast to theUSA,Canada

and New Zealand, Australia had no treaties with the natives formalising the takeover of land by

Europeans.Thegovernmenthadalways

termed the land of Australia terra nullius, that is belonging to nobody. There was also a long and

agonising history of children of mixed blood (native European) being forcibly captured and separated

fromtheirnativerelatives.

Agitationaroundthesequestionsledtoenquiriesandtotwoimportantdecisions:one,torecognisethat

the natives had strong historic bonds with the land which was ‘sacred’ to them, and which should be

respected;two,thatwhilepastactscouldnotbeundone,thereshouldbeapublicapologyfortheinjustice

donetochildreninanattempttokeep‘white’and‘coloured’peopleapart.

Exercises

Answerinbrief

1.CommentonanypointsofdifferencebetweenthenativepeoplesofSouthandNorthAmerica.

2.OtherthantheuseofEnglish,whatotherfeaturesofEnglisheconomicandsociallifedoyounoticein

nineteenth-centuryUSA?

3.Whatdidthe‘frontier’meantotheAmericans?

4.WhywasthehistoryoftheAustraliannativepeoplesleftoutofhistorybooks?



Answerinashortessay

5.Howsatisfactory isamuseum gallerydisplayin explaining the culture ofapeople? Give examples

fromyourownexperienceofamuseum.

6. Imagine an encounter in California in about 1880 between four people: a former African slave, a

Chinese labourer, a German who had come out in the Gold Rush, and a native of the Hopi tribe, and

narratetheirconversation.

Theme11

PathstoModernisation

EastAsiaatthebeginningofthenineteenthcenturywasdominatedbyChina.TheQingdynasty,heirtoa

longtradition,seemedsecureinitspower,whileJapan,asmallislandcountry,seemedtobelockedin

isolation.Yet,withinafewdecadesChinawasthrownintoturmoilunabletofacethecolonialchallenge.

The imperial government lost political control, was unable to reform effectively and the country was

convulsedbycivilwar.Japanontheotherhandwassuccessfulinbuildingamodernnation-state,creating

anindustrialeconomyandevenestablishingacolonialempirebyincorporatingTaiwan(1895)andKorea

(1910).ItdefeatedChina,thelandthathadbeenthesourceofitscultureandideals,in1894,andRussia,

aEuropeanpower,in1905.

TheChinesereactedslowlyandfacedimmensedifficultiesastheysoughttoredefinetheirtraditionsto

cope with the modern world, and to rebuild theirnational strength and become free from Western and

Japanesecontrol.Theyfoundthattheycouldachievebothobjectives–ofremovinginequalitiesandof

rebuildingtheircountry–throughrevolution.TheChineseCommunistPartyemergedvictoriousfromthe

civilwarin1949.However,bytheendofthe1970sChineseleadersfeltthattheideologicalsystemwas

retarding economic growth and development. This led to wide-ranging reforms of the economy that

broughtbackcapitalismandthefreemarketevenastheCommunistPartyretainedpoliticalcontrol.

Japanbecameanadvancedindustrialnationbutitsdriveforempireledtowaranddefeatatthehandsof

the Anglo-American forces. The US Occupation marked the beginning of a more democratic political

systemandJapanrebuiltitseconomytoemergebythe1970sasamajoreconomicpower.

The Japanese path to modernisation was built on capitalist principles and took place within a world

dominated by Western colonialism. Japanese expansion was justified by the call to resist Western

domination and liberate Asia. The rapid development underlined the strength of tradition in Japanese

institutionsandsociety,theirabilitytolearnandthestrengthofnationalism.



ChinaandJapanhavehadalongtraditionofhistoricalwritings,ashistorywasanimportantguideforthe

rulers.Thepastprovidedthestandardsbywhichtheywouldbejudgedandtherulersestablishedofficial

departmentstomaintainrecordsandwritedynastichistories.SimaQian(145-90bce)isconsideredthe

greatesthistorianofearlyChina.InJapan,Chineseculturalinfluenceledtohistorybeinggivenasimilar

importance.OneoftheearliestactsoftheMeijigovernmentwastoestablish,in1869,abureautocollect

recordsandwrite,asitwere,avictor’sversionoftheMeijiRestoration.Therewasgreatrespectforthe

writtenwordandliteraryabilitywashighlyvalued.Thishasmeantthatawiderangeofwrittenmaterials

– official histories, scholarly writings, popular literature, religious tracts – are available.Printing and

publishingwereimportantindustriesinthepre-modernperiodanditispossible,forinstance,totracethe

distributionofabookineighteenth-centuryChinaorJapan.Modernscholarshaveusedthesematerialsin

newanddifferentways.

Modern scholarship has built on the work of Chinese intellectuals such as Liang Qichao or Kume

Kunitake (1839-1931), one of the pioneers of modern history in Japan, as well as earlier writings by

Europeantravellers,suchastheItalianMarcoPolo(1254-1324,inChinafrom1274to1290),theJesuit

priests Mateo Ricci (1552-1610) in China and Luis Frois (1532-97), in Japan, all of whom left rich

accounts of these countries. It has also benefited from the writings of Christian missionaries in the

nineteenthcenturywhoseworkprovidesvaluablematerialforourunderstandingofthesecountries.

Scholarship in English from Joseph Needham’s monumental work on the history of science in Chinese

civilisationorGeorgeSansom’sonJapanesehistoryandculturehasgrownandthereisanimmensebody

of sophisticated scholarship available to us today. In recent years, writings by Chinese and Japanese

scholarshavebeentranslatedintoEnglish,someofwhomteachabroadandwriteinEnglish,andinthe

case of Chinese scholars, since the 1980s, many have been working in Japan as well and write in

Japanese. This has meant that we have scholarly writings from many parts of the globe that give us a

richeranddeeperpictureofthesecountries.



NaitoKonan*(1866-1934)

*InJapan,thesurnameiswrittenfirst.

AleadingJapanesescholarofChina,NaitoKonan’swritingsinfluencedscholarsworldwide.Usingthe

newtoolsofWesternhistoriographyNaitobuiltonalongtraditionofstudyingChinaaswellasbringing

his experience as a journalist there. He helped establish the Department of Oriental Studies in Kyoto

University in 1907. In Shinaron [On China (1914)], he argued that republican government offered the

ChineseawaytoendaristocraticcontrolandcentralisedpowerthathadexistedsincetheSungdynasty

(960-1279) – a way to revitalise local society where reform must begin. He saw in Chinese history

strengthsthatwouldmakeitmodernanddemocratic.Japan,hethoughthadanimportantroletoplayin

ChinabutheunderestimatedthepowerofChinesenationalism.

Introduction

ChinaandJapanpresentamarkedphysicalcontrast.Chinaisavastcontinentalcountrythatspansmany

climaticzones;the coreis dominatedby three major riversystems: theYellow River(Huang He), the

YangtseRiver(ChangJiang–thethirdlongestriverintheworld)andthePearlRiver.Alargepartofthe

countryismountainous.

Map1:EastAsia

ThedominantethnicgrouparetheHanandthemajorlanguageisChinese(Putonghua)buttherearemany

other nationalities such as the Uighur, Hui, Manchu and Tibetan, and aside from dialects such as

Cantonese(Yue)andShanghainese(Wu)thereareotherminoritylanguagesspokenaswell.

Chinesefoodreflectsthisregionaldiversitywithatleastfourdistincttypes.Thebestknownissouthern

orCantonesecuisine–asmostoverseasChinesecomefromtheCantonarea–whichincludesdimsum

(literallytouchyourheart),anassortmentofpastriesanddumplings.Inthenorth,wheatisthestaplefood

while in Szechuan spices brought by Buddhist monks in the ancient period, along the silk route, and

chilliesbyPortuguesetradersinthefifteenthcentury,havecreatedafierycuisine.IneasternChina,both

riceandwheatareeaten.

Japan,bycontrast,isastringofislands,thefourlargestbeingHonshu,Kyushu,ShikokuandHokkaido.

TheOkinawanchainisthesouthernmost,aboutthesamelatitudeastheBahamas.Morethan50percent

ofthelandareaofthemainislandsismountainousandJapanissituatedinaveryactiveearthquakezone.

Thesegeographicalconditionshaveinfluencedarchitecture.ThepopulationislargelyJapanesebutthere

areasmallAinuminorityandKoreanswhowereforciblybroughtaslabourwhenKoreawasaJapanese

colony.

Japanlacksatraditionofanimalrearing.Riceisthestaplecropandfishthemajorsourceofprotein.Raw

fish(sashimiorsushi)has

nowbecomeawidelypopulardisharoundtheworldasitisconsideredveryhealthy.

Japan

ThePoliticalSystem

An emperor had ruled Japan from Kyoto but by the twelfth century the imperial court lost power to

shoguns,whointheoryruledinthenameoftheemperor.From1603to1867,membersoftheTokugawa

familyheldthepositionofshogun.Thecountrywasdividedintoover250domainsundertheruleoflords

calleddaimyo.Theshogunexercisedpoweroverthedomainallords,orderingthemtostayatthecapital

Edo(modernTokyo)forlongperiodssothattheywouldnotposeathreat.Healsocontrolledthemajor

cities and mines. The samurai (the warrior class) were the ruling elite and served the shoguns and

daimyo.

Inthelatesixteenthcentury,threechangeslaidthepatternforfuturedevelopment.One,thepeasantrywas

disarmed and only the samurai couldcarry swords. This ensured peace and order, ending the frequent

warsofthepreviouscentury.Two,thedaimyowereorderedtoliveinthecapitalsoftheirdomains,each

withalargedegree ofautonomy. Third,landsurveys identified owners and taxpayers and gradedland

productivitytoensureastablerevenuebase.

Thedaimyo’scapitalsbecamebigger,sothatbythemid-seventeenthcentury,Japannotonlyhadthemost

populatedcityintheworld–Edo–butalsotwootherlargecities–OsakaandKyoto,andatleasthalfa

dozencastle-townswithpopulationsofover50,000.(Bycontrast,mostEuropeancountriesofthetime

hadonlyonelargecity.)Thisledtothegrowthofacommercialeconomy,andcreatedfinancialandcredit

systems. A person’smerit began to be morevalued than his status. A vibrant cultureblossomed in the

towns, where the fast-growing class of merchants patronised theatre and the arts. As people enjoyed

reading, itbecame possible for gifted writers to earn a livingsolely by writing. In Edo,people could

‘rent’abookforthepriceofabowlofnoodles.Thisshowshowpopularreadinghadbecomeandgivesa

glimpseintothescaleofprinting*.

*Printingwasdonewithwoodblocks.TheJapanesedidnotliketheregularityofEuropeanprinting.

Japanwasconsideredrich,becauseitimportedluxurygoodslikesilkfromChinaandtextilesfromIndia.

Paying for these imports with gold and silver strained the economy and led the Tokugawa to put

restrictionsontheexportofpreciousmetals.TheyalsotookstepstodevelopthesilkindustryinNishijin

inKyotosoastoreduceimports.ThesilkfromNishijincametobeknownasthebestintheworld.Other

developmentssuchastheincreaseduseofmoneyandthecreationofastockmarketinriceshowthatthe

economywasdevelopinginnewways.

Socialandintellectualchanges–suchasthestudyofancientJapaneseliterature–ledpeopletoquestion

the degree of Chinese influence and to argue that the essence of being Japanese could be found long

beforethecontactwithChina,insuchearlyclassicsastheTaleoftheGenjiandinthemythsoforiginthat

saidthattheislandswerecreatedbythegodsandthattheemperorwasadescendantoftheSunGoddess.

TaleoftheGenji

AfictionaliseddiaryoftheHeiancourtwrittenbyMurasakiShikibu,theTaleoftheGenjibecamethecentralworkoffictioninJapanese

literature.Thatperiodsawtheemergenceofmanywomenwriters,likeMurasaki,whowroteintheJapanesescript,whilemenwrotein

theChinesescript,usedforeducationandgovernment.ThenoveldepictstheromanticlifeofPrinceGenjiandisastrikingpictureofthe

aristocraticatmosphereoftheHeiancourt.Itshowstheindependencethatwomenhadinchoosingtheirhusbandsandlivingtheirlives.

NishijinisaquarterinKyoto.Inthesixteenthcentury,ithadaweavers’guildof31householdsandbythe

endoftheseventeenthcenturythecommunitynumberedover70,000people.Sericulturespreadandwas

encouragedbyanorderin1713thatonlydomesticyarnwastobeused.Nishijinspecialisedonlyinthe

most expensive products. Silk production helped the growth of a class of regional entrepreneurs who

challenged the Tokugawa order, andwhen foreign trade started in 1859 Japan’s silk exports becamea

majorsourceofprofitfortheeconomystrugglingtocompetewithWesterngoods.

TheMeijiRestoration

Internal discontent coincided with demands for trade and diplomatic relations. In 1853, the USA sent

CommodoreMatthewPerry(1794-1858)toJapantodemandthatthegovernmentsignatreatythatwould

permit trade and open diplomatic relations, which it did the following year. Japan lay on the route to

ChinawhichtheUSAsawasamajormarket;also,theirwhalingshipsinthePacificneededaplaceto

refuel.Atthattime,therewasonlyoneWesterncountrythattradedwithJapan,Holland.

Perry’s arrival had an important effect on Japanese politics. The emperor, who till then had had little

political power, now re-emerged as an important figure. In 1868, a movement forcibly removed the

shogun from power, and brought the Emperor to Edo. This was made the capital and renamed Tokyo,

whichmeans‘easterncapital’.

Perry’sship:aJapanesewoodblockprint.

What the Japanese called ‘black ships’ (tar was used to seal the joints of the wood) are depicted in

paintingsandcartoonsshowingthestrangeforeignersandtheirhabits.Thisbecameapowerfulsymbolof

Japan’s‘opening’.(Today,scholarswouldarguethatJapanhadnotbeen‘closed’,tookpartintheeast

AsiantradeandhadaccesstoknowledgeofthewiderworldboththroughtheDutchandtheChinese.)

Officials and the people were aware that some European countries were building colonial empires in

Indiaandelsewhere.NewsofChinabeingdefeatedbytheBritish(seep.244)wasflowingin,andthis

wasevendepictedinpopularplays,sothattherewasarealfearthatJapanmightbemadeacolony.Many

scholarsandleaderswantedtolearnfromthenewideasinEuroperatherthanignorethemastheChinese

weredoing;otherssoughttoexcludetheEuropeansevenwhilebeingreadytoadoptthenewtechnologies

theyoffered.Somearguedforagradualandlimited‘opening’totheouterworld.

CommodorePerryasseenbytheJapanese.

ACTIVITY1

ContrasttheencounteroftheJapaneseandtheAztecswiththeEuropeans.

The government launched a policy with the slogan ‘fukoku kyohei’ (rich country, strong army). They

realisedthattheyneededtodeveloptheireconomyandbuildastrongarmy,otherwisetheywouldfacethe

prospectofbeingsubjugatedlikeIndia.Todothistheyneededtocreateasenseofnationhoodamongthe

people,andtotransformsubjectsintocitizens.

At the same time, the new government also worked to build what they called the ‘emperor system’.

(Japanesescholarsusethistermastheemperorwaspartofasystem,alongwiththebureaucracyandthe

military, that exercised power.) Officials were sent to study the European monarchies on which they

plannedtomodeltheirown.TheEmperorwouldbetreatedwithreverenceashewasconsideredadirect

descendant of the Sun Goddess but he was also shown as the leader of westernisation. His birthday

becameanationalholiday,heworeWestern-stylemilitaryuniforms,andedictswereissuedinhisnameto

setupmoderninstitutions.TheImperialRescriptonEducationof1890urgedpeopletopursuelearning,

advancepublicgoodandpromotecommoninterests.

Anewschoolsystembegantobebuiltfromthe1870s.Schoolingwascompulsoryforboysandgirlsand

by1910almostuniversal.Tuitionfeeswereminimal.ThecurriculumhadbeenbasedonWesternmodels

butbythe1870s,whileemphasisingmodernideas,stresswasplacedonloyaltyandthestudyofJapanese

history.Theministryofeducationexercisedcontroloverthecurriculumandintheselectionoftextbooks,

aswellasinteachers’training.Whatwascalled‘moralculture‘hadtobetaught,andtextsurgedchildren

toreveretheirparents,beloyaltothenation,andbecomegoodcitizens.

TheJapanese hadborrowedtheir writtenscriptfromtheChinesein thesixthcentury. However, sincetheir languageisvery different

fromChinesetheydevelopedtwophoneticalphabets–hiraganaandkatakana.Hiraganaisconsideredfemininebecauseitwasusedby

manywomenwritersintheHeianperiod(suchasMurasaki).ItiswrittenusingamixtureofChinesecharactersandphoneticssothatthe

main part of the word is written with a character – for instance, in ‘going’, ‘go’ would be written with a character and the ‘ing’ in

phonetics.

Theexistenceofaphoneticsyllabarymeantthatknowledgespreadfromtheelitestothewidersocietyrelativelyquickly.Inthe1880sit

wassuggestedthatJapanesedevelopacompletelyphoneticscript,oradoptaEuropeanlanguage.Neitherwasdone.

To integrate the nation, the Meiji government imposed a new administrative structure by altering old

village and domain boundaries. The administrative unit had to have revenue adequate to maintain the

localschoolsandhealthfacilities,aswellasserveasarecruitmentcentreforthemilitary.Allyoungmen

over twenty had to do a period of military service. A modern military force was developed. A legal

system was set up to regulate the formation of political groups, control the holding of meetings and

imposestrictcensorship.Inallthesemeasuresthegovernmenthadtofaceopposition.Themilitaryand

the bureaucracy were put under the direct command of the emperor. This meant that even after a

constitution was enacted these twogroups remained outsidethe control ofthegovernment.Inallthese

measuresthegovernmentfacedopposition.

Thetensionbetweenthesedifferentidealsrepresentedbyademocraticconstitutionandamodernarmy

wastohavefar-reachingconsequences.Thearmypressedforavigorousforeignpolicytoacquiremore

territory.ThisledtowarswithChinaandRussia,inbothofwhichJapanwasthevictor.Populardemand

forgreaterdemocracywasofteninoppositiontothegovernment’saggressivepolicies.Japandeveloped

economicallyandacquiredacolonialempirethatsuppressedthespreadofdemocracyathomeandputit

incollisionwiththepeopleitcolonised.

WritingJapanese:Kanji(Chinesecharacters)–red;katakana–blue;hiragana–green.

ModernisingtheEconomy

AnotherimportantpartoftheMeijireformswasthemodernisingoftheeconomy.Fundswereraisedby

levyinganagriculturaltax.Japan’sfirstrailwayline,betweenTokyoandtheportofYokohama,wasbuilt

in1870-72.TextilemachinerywasimportedfromEurope,andforeigntechnicianswereemployedtotrain

workers,aswellastoteachinuniversitiesandschools,andJapanesestudentsweresentabroad.In1872,

modern banking institutions were launched. Companies like Mitsubishi and Sumitomo were helped

throughsubsidiesandtaxbenefitstobecomemajorshipbuilderssothatJapanesetradewasfromnowon

carried in Japanese ships. Zaibatsu (large business organisations controlled by individual families)

dominatedtheeconomytillaftertheSecondWorldWar.

Thepopulation,35millionin1872,increasedto55millionin1920.Toreducepopulationpressurethe

government actively encouraged migration, first to the northern island of Hokkaido, which had been a

largely autonomous area where the indigenous people called the Ainu lived, and then to Hawaii and

Brazil,aswellastothegrowingcolonialempireofJapan.WithinJapantherewasashifttotownsas

industrydeveloped.By1925,21percentofthepopulationlivedincities;by1935,thisfigurehadgone

upto32percent(22.5million).

IndustrialWorkers

Thenumberofpeople inmanufacturingincreasedfrom700,000 in1870 to4 millionin 1913.Mostof

them worked in unitsemploying less than five peopleand using neither machinery nor electric power.

Overhalfofthoseemployedinmodernfactorieswerewomen.Anditwaswomenwhoorganisedthefirst

modernstrikein1886.After1900,thenumberofmenbegantoincreasebutonlyinthe1930sdidmale

workersbegintooutnumberwomen.

Workersinatextilefactory.

Thesizeoffactoriesalsobegantoincrease.Factoriesemployingmorethanahundredworkers,justover

1,000in1909,jumpedtoover2,000by1920and4,000bythe1930s;yetevenin1940,therewereover

550,000workshopsthatemployedlessthanfiveemployees.Thissustainedthefamily-centredideology,

justasnationalismwassustainedbyastrongpatriarchalsystemunderanemperorwhowaslikeafamily

patriarch.

Therapidandunregulatedgrowthofindustryandthedemandfornaturalresourcessuchastimberledto

environmentaldestruction.TanakaShozo,electedtothefirstHouseofRepresentatives,launchedthefirst

agitationagainstindustrialpollutionin1897with800villagersinamassprotestforcingthegovernment

totakeaction.

AggressiveNationalism

The Meiji constitution was based on a restricted franchise and created a Diet (the Japanese used the

GermanwordforparliamentbecauseoftheinfluenceofGermanlegalideas)withlimitedpowers.The

leaders who brought about the imperial restoration continued to exercise power and even established

politicalparties.Between1918and1931,popularlyelectedprimeministersformedcabinets.Thereafter,

theylostpowertonationalunitycabinetsformedacrosspartylines.Theemperorwasthecommanderof

theforcesandfrom1890thiswasinterpretedtomeanthatthearmyandthenavyhadindependentcontrol.

In1899,theprimeministerorderedthatonlyservinggeneralsandadmiralscouldbecomeministers.This

strengtheningofthemilitary,togetherwiththeexpansionofJapan’scolonialempire,wasconnectedwith

thefearthatJapanwasatthemercyoftheWesternpowers.Thisfearwasusedtosilenceoppositionto

militaryexpansionandtohighertaxestofundthearmedforces.

TanakaShozo(1841-1913),

theself-taughtsonofa farmer,rose tobecomea majorpoliticalfigure.Heparticipated in thePopular

Rights Movement in the 1880s, a movement demanding constitutional government. He was elected

member to the first Diet. He believed that ordinary people should not be sacrificed for industrial

progress. The Ashio Mine was polluting the Watarase river ruining 100 square miles of farmland and

affectingathousandfamilies.Theagitationforcedthecompanytotakepollution-controlmeasuressothat

by1904harvestswerenormal.

Youngpeoplebeingexhortedtofightforthenation:amagazinecover.Student-soldiers:photographs.

‘Westernisation’and‘Tradition’

Successive generations of Japanese intellectuals had different views on Japan’s relations with other

countries.Tosome,theUSAandwesternEuropeancountrieswereatthehighestpointofcivilisation,to

whichJapanaspired.FukuzawaYukichi,aleadingMeijiintellectual,expressedthisbysayingthatJapan

must‘expelAsia’.HemeantthatJapanmustshedits‘Asian’characteristicsandbecomepartoftheWest.

FukuzawaYukichi(1835-1901)

Borninanimpoverishedsamuraifamily,hestudiedinNagasakiandOsakalearningDutchandWesternsciencesand,later,English.In

1860,hewentasatranslatorforthefirstJapaneseembassytotheUSA.ThisprovidedmaterialforabookontheWest,writtennotinthe

classicalbutinthespokenstylethatbecameextremelypopular.HeestablishedaschoolthatistodaytheKeioUniversity.Hewasoneof

thecoremembersoftheMeirokusha,asocietytopromoteWesternlearning.

InTheEncouragementtoLearning(Gakumonnosusume,1872-76)hewasverycriticalofJapaneseknowledge:‘AllthatJapanhastobe

proud of is its scenery’. He advocated not just modern factories and institutions but the cultural essence of the West – the spirit of

civilisation.Withthisspirititwouldbepossibletobuildanewcitizen.Hisprinciplewas:‘Heavendidnotcreatemenabovemen,norset

menbelowmen.’

Thenextgeneration questionedthis total acceptance of Western ideasand urged that national pridebe

builtonindigenousvalues.ThephilosopherMiyakeSetsurei(1860-1945)arguedthateachnationmust

developitsspecialtalentsintheinterestofworldcivilisation:‘Todevoteoneselftoone’scountryisto

devote oneself to the world.’ By contrast, many intellectuals were attracted to Western liberalism and

wanted a Japan based not on themilitary but on democracy.Ueki Emori (1857-1892), aleader of the

Popular Rights Movement, was demanding constitutional government, admiredthe French Revolution’s

doctrineofthenaturalrightsof man and of popularsovereignty,and spokefora liberaleducation that

woulddevelop each individual:‘Freedom is moreprecious than order.’ Others even advocatedvoting

rightsforwomen.Thispressureledthegovernmenttoannounce

aconstitution.

DailyLife

Japan’s transformation into a modern society can be seen also in the changes in everyday life. The

patriarchalhouseholdsystemcomprisedmanygenerationslivingtogetherunderthecontroloftheheadof

thehouse,butasmorepeoplebecameaffluent,newideasofthefamilyspread.Thenewhome(homuas

theJapanesesay,usingtheEnglishword)wasthatofthenuclearfamily,wherehusbandandwifelivedas

breadwinnerandhomemaker.Thisnewconceptofdomesticityinturngenerateddemandsfornewtypesof

domesticgoods,newtypesoffamilyentertainments,andnewformsofhousing.Inthe1920s,construction

companiesmadecheaphousingavailableforadownpaymentof200yenandamonthlyinstalmentof12

yenfortenyears–thisatatimewhenthesalaryofabankemployee(apersonwithhighereducation)was

40yenpermonth.

Thenoveltyofelectricgoods:arice-cooker,anAmericangrill,atoaster.

CAR-CLUB

Moga: An abbreviation for ‘modern girl’. It represented the coming together in the twentieth century of ideas of gender equality, a

cosmopolitancultureandadevelopedeconomy.Thenewmiddle-classfamiliesenjoyednewformsoftravelandentertainment.Transport

incitiesimprovedwithelectrictrams,publicparkswereopenedfrom1878,anddepartmentstoresbegantobebuilt.InTokyo,theGinza

becameafashionableareafor Ginbura,awordcombining‘Ginza’and‘burbura’(walkingaimlessly).Thefirstradiostationsopenedin

1925.MatsuiSumako,an actress, became anationalstar withherportrayal ofNora inthe NorwegianwriterIbsen’sA Doll’sHouse.

Moviesbegantobemadein1899andsoontherewereadozencompaniesmakinghundredsoffilms.Theperiodwasoneofgreatvitality

andthequestioningoftraditionalnormsofsocialandpoliticalbehaviour.

Women’scar-pool.

‘OvercomingModernity’

State-centrednationalismfoundfullexpressioninthe1930sand1940sasJapanlaunchedwarstoextend

its empire inChina andotherpartsofAsia,a war that mergedintotheSecond World WarafterJapan

attacked the USA at Pearl Harbor. This period saw greater controls on society, the repression and

imprisonment of dissidents, as well as the formation of patriotic societies, many of them women’s

organisations,tosupportthewar.

An influential symposium on ‘Overcoming Modernity’ in 1943 debated the dilemma facing Japan – of

howtocombattheWestwhilebeingmodern.Amusician,MoroiSaburo,posedthequestionofhowto

rescuemusicfromtheartofsensorystimulationandrestoreittoanartofthespirit.Hewasnotrejecting

WesternmusicbuttryingtofindawaythatwentbeyondmerelyrewritingorplayingJapanesemusicon

Western instruments.The philosopherNishitaniKeijidefined‘modern’ as theunity of threestreams of

Westernthought:theRenaissance,theProtestantReformation,andtheriseofnaturalsciences.Heargued

thatJapan’s‘moralenergy’(atermtakenfromtheGermanphilosopherRanke)hadhelpeditto escape

colonisationanditwasitsdutytoestablishanewworldorder,aGreaterEastAsia.Forthisanewvision

thatwouldintegratescienceandreligionwasnecessary.

ACTIVITY2

WouldyouagreewithNishitani’sdefinitionof‘modern’?

AfterDefeat:Re-emergingasaGlobal

EconomicPower

Japan’s attempt to carve out a colonial empire ended with its defeat by the Allied forces. It has been

arguedthatnuclearbombsweredroppedonHiroshimaandNagasakitoshortenthewar.Butothersthink

theimmensedestructionandsufferingitcausedwereunnecessary.UndertheUS-ledOccupation(1945-

47)Japanwasdemilitarisedandanewconstitutionintroduced.ThishadArticle9,theso-called‘nowar

clause’ that renounces the use of war as an instrument of state policy. Agrarian reforms, the re-

establishment of trade unions and an attempt to dismantle the zaibatsu or large monopoly houses that

dominatedtheJapaneseeconomywerealsocarriedout.Politicalpartieswererevivedandthefirstpost-

warelectionsheldin1946wherewomenvotedforthefirsttime.

TherapidrebuildingoftheJapaneseeconomyafteritsshatteringdefeatwascalledapost-war‘miracle’.

Butitwasmorethanthat–itwasfirmlyrootedinitslonghistory.Theconstitutionwasdemocratisedonly

now,buttheJapanesehadahistorictraditionofpopularstrugglesandintellectualengagementwithhow

tobroadenpoliticalparticipation.Thesocialcohesionofthepre-waryearswasstrengthened,allowing

for a close working of the government, bureaucracy and industry. US support, as well as the demand

createdbytheKoreanandtheVietnamesewarsalsohelpedtheJapaneseeconomy.

The1964OlympicsheldinTokyomarkedasymboliccomingofage.Inmuchthesamewaythenetwork

ofhigh-speedShinkansenorbullettrains,startedin1964,whichranat200milesperhour(nowitis300

miles per hour) have come to represent the ability of the Japanese to use advanced technologies to

producebetterandcheapergoods.

The 1960s saw the growth of civil society movements as industrialisation had been pushed with utter

disregardtoitseffectonhealthandtheenvironment.Cadmiumpoisoning,whichledtoapainfuldisease,

wasanearlyindicator,followedbymercurypoisoninginMinamatainthe1960sandproblemscausedby

air pollution in the early 1970s. Grass-roots pressure groups began to demand recognition of these

problemsaswellascompensationforthevictims.Governmentactionandnewlegalregulationshelpedto

improveconditions.Fromthemid-1980stherehasbeenanincreasingdeclineininterestinenvironmental

issuesasJapanenactedsomeofthestrictestenvironmentalcontrolsintheworld.Today,asadeveloped

countryitfacesthechallengeofusingitspoliticalandtechnologicalcapabilitiestomaintainitsposition

asaleadingworldpower.

CHINA

The modern history of China has revolved around the question of how to regain sovereignty, end the

humiliation of foreign occupation and bring about equality and development. Chinese debates were

markedbytheviewsofthreegroups.TheearlyreformerssuchasKangYouwei(1858-1927)orLiang

Qichao(1873-1929)triedtousetraditionalideasinnewanddifferentwaystomeetthechallengesposed

bytheWest.Second,republicanrevolutionariessuchasSunYat-sen,thefirstpresidentoftherepublic,

wereinspiredbyideasfromJapanandtheWest.Thethird,theCommunistPartyofChina(CCP)wanted

toendage-oldinequalitiesanddriveouttheforeigners.

The beginning of modern China can be traced to its first encounter with the West in the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries when Jesuit missionaries introduced Western sciences such as astronomy and

mathematics.Limitedthoughitsimmediateimpactwas,itsetinmotioneventsthatgatheredmomentumin

thenineteenthcenturywhenBritainusedforcetoexpanditslucrativetradeinopiumleadingtothefirst

OpiumWar(1839-42).ThisunderminedtherulingQingdynastyandstrengtheneddemandsforreformand

change.

TheOpiumTrade

ThedemandforChinesegoodssuchastea,silkandporcelaincreatedaseriousbalance-of-tradeproblem.Westerngoodsdidnotfinda

marketinChina,sopaymenthadtobeinsilver.TheEastIndiaCompanyfoundanewoption–opium,whichgrewinIndia.Theysoldthe

opiuminChinaandgavethesilverthattheyearnedtocompanyagentsinCantoninreturnforlettersofcredit.TheCompanyusedthe

silvertobuytea,silkandporcelaintosellinBritain.Thiswasthe‘triangulartrade’betweenBritain,IndiaandChina.

TheOpiumWar:AEuropeanpainting.

ACTIVITY3

DoesthispaintinggiveyouaclearsenseofthesignificanceoftheOpiumWar?



QingreformerssuchasKang Youwei and LiangQichaorealisedthe need to strengthen thesystemand

initiatedpoliciestobuildamodernadministrativesystem,anewarmyandaneducationalsystem,andset

up local assemblies to establish constitutional government. They saw the need to protect China from

colonisation.

The negative example of colonised countries worked powerfully on Chinese thinkers. The partition of

Polandintheeighteenthcenturywasamuch-discussedexample.Somuchsothatbythelate1890sitcame

tobeusedasaverb: ‘toPolandus’(bolanwo).Indiawas anothersuchexample.In 1903,the thinker

Liang Qichao,whobelieved thatonly by making peopleaware thatChina was anation wouldthey be

abletoresisttheWest,wrotethatIndiawas‘acountrythatwasdestroyedbyanon-countrythatistheEast

IndiaCompany’.HecriticisedIndiansforbeingcrueltotheirownpeopleandsubservienttotheBritish.

Such arguments carried a powerful appeal as ordinary Chinese could see that the British used Indian

soldiersintheirwarsonChina.

Aboveallmanyfeltthattraditionalwaysofthinkinghadtobechanged.Confucianism,developedfrom

the teachings of Confucius (551-479 bce) and his disciples, was concerned with good conduct,

practicalwisdomandpropersocialrelationships.ItinfluencedtheChineseattitudetowardlife,provided

social standards and laid the basis for political theories and institutions. It was now seen as a major

barriertonewideasandinstitutions.

To train peoplein modern subjects students were sent to study in Japan, Britain and Franceand bring

backnewideas.ManyChinesestudentswenttoJapaninthe1890s.Theynotonlybroughtbacknewideas

but many became leading republicans. The Chinese borrowed even Japanese translations of European

wordssuchasjustice,rights,andrevolutionbecausetheyusedthesameideographicscript,areversalof

thetraditionalrelationship.In1905,justaftertheRusso-Japanesewar(awarfoughtonChinesesoiland

overChineseterritory)thecenturies-oldChineseexaminationsystemthatgavecandidatesentryintothe

eliterulingclasswasabolished.

TheExaminationSystem

Entrytotheeliterulingclass(about1.1milliontill1850)hadbeenlargelythroughanexamination.Thisrequiredwritinganeight-legged

essay[pa-kuwen]inclassicalChineseinaprescribedform.Theexaminationwasheldtwiceeverythreeyears,atdifferentlevelsandof

thoseallowedtositonly1-2percentpassedthefirstlevel,usuallybytheageof24,tobecomewhatwascalled‘beautifultalent’.Atany

giventimebefore1850therewereabout526,869civiland212,330militaryprovincial(sheng-yuan)degreeholdersinthewholecountry.

Sincetherewereonly27,000officialpositions,manylower-leveldegreeholdersdidnothavejobs.Theexaminationactedasabarrierto

the development of science and technology as it demanded only literary skills. In 1905, it was abolished as it was based on skills in

classicalChineselearningthathad,itwasfelt,norelevanceforthemodernworld.

EstablishingtheRepublic

TheManchuempirewasoverthrownandarepublicestablishedin1911underSunYat-sen(1866-1925)

whoisunanimouslyregardedasthefounderofmodernChina.Hecamefromapoorfamilyandstudiedin

missionaryschoolswherehewasintroducedtodemocracyandChristianity.Hestudiedmedicinebutwas

greatlyconcernedaboutthefateofChina.HisprogrammewascalledtheThreePrinciples(San

minchui). These werenationalism – this meant overthrowing the Manchu who were seen as a foreign

dynasty, as well as other foreign imperialists; democracy or establishing democratic government; and

socialismregulatingcapitalandequalisinglandholdings.

Thesocialandpoliticalsituationcontinuedtobeunstable.On4May1919,anangrydemonstrationwas

heldinBeijingtoprotestagainstthedecisionsofthepost-warpeaceconference.Despitebeinganallyof

thevictorioussideledbyBritain,Chinadidnotgetbacktheterritoriesseizedfromit.Theprotestbecame

a movement. It galvanised a whole generation to attack tradition and to call for saving China through

modernscience,democracyandnationalism.Revolutionariescalledfordrivingouttheforeigners,who

were controlling the country’s resources, to remove inequalities and reduce poverty. They advocated

reforms such as the use of simple language in writing, abolishing the practice of foot-binding and the

subordination of women, equality in marriage, and economic development to end poverty. After the

republican revolution the country entered a period of turmoil. TheGuomindang (theNational People’s

Party)andtheCCPemergedasmajorforcesstrivingtounitethecountryandbringstability.

SunYat-sen’sideasbecamethebasisofthepoliticalphilosophyoftheGuomindang.Theyidentifiedthe

‘fourgreatneeds’asclothing,food,housingandtransportation.AfterthedeathofSun,ChiangKai-shek

(1887-1975)emergedastheleaderoftheGuomindangashelaunchedamilitarycampaigntocontrolthe

‘warlords’,regionalleaderswhohadusurpedauthority,andtoeliminatethecommunists.Headvocateda

secularandrational‘this-worldly’Confucianism,butalsosoughttomilitarisethenation.Thepeople,he

said,mustdevelopa‘habitandinstinctforunifiedbehaviour’.Heencouragedwomentocultivatethefour

virtuesof‘chastity,appearance,speechandwork’andrecognisetheirroleasconfinedtothehousehold.

Eventhelengthofhemlineswasprescribed.

TheGuomindang’ssocialbasewasinurbanareas.Industrialgrowthwasslowandlimited.Incitiessuch

as Shanghai, which became the centres of modern growth, by 1919 an industrial working class had

appeared numbering 500,000. Of these, however, only a small percentage were employed in modern

industries such as shipbuilding. Most were ‘petty urbanites’ (xiao shimin), traders and shopkeepers.

Urbanworkers,particularlywomen,earnedverylowwages.Workinghourswerelongandconditionsof

workbad.Asindividualismincreased,therewasagrowingconcernwithwomen’srights,waystobuild

thefamilyanddiscussionsaboutloveandromance.

Socialandculturalchangewashelpedalongbythespreadofschoolsanduniversities(PekingUniversity

wasestablishedin1902).Journalismflourishedreflectingthegrowingattractionofthisnewthinking.The

popularLifeWeekly,editedbyZaoTaofen(1895-1944),isrepresentativeofthisnewtrend.Itintroduced

readerstonewideas,aswellastoleaderssuchasMahatmaGandhiandKemalAtaturk,themodernist

leaderofTurkey.Itscirculationincreasedrapidlyfromjust2,000in1926toamassive200,000copiesin

1933.

Shanghai in 1935: Buck Clayton, a black American trumpet player, in Shanghai with his jazz orchestra lived the life of the privileged

expatriates.ButhewasblackandoncesomewhiteAmericansassaultedhimandhisorchestramembersandthrewthemoutfromthe

hotel they played in. Thus, though American, he had greater sympathy for the plight of the Chinese being himself a victim of racial

discrimination.

Of their fight with white Americans where they emerged victorious he writes, ‘The Chinese onlookers treated us like we had done

somethingtheyalwayswantedtodoandfollowedusallthewayhomecheeringuslikeawinningfootballteam.’

OnthepovertyandhardlifeoftheChinese,Claytonwrites,‘Iwouldseesometimestwentyorthirtycooliespullingabigheavycartthat

inAmericawouldbepulledbyatruckorhorses.Thesepeopleseemedtobenothingbuthumanhorsesandalltheywouldgetattheend

ofthedaywasjustenoughtogetacoupleofbowlsofriceandaplacetosleep.Idon’tknowhowtheydidit.’

‘RickshawPuller’,woodcutbyLanJia.ThenovelRickshawbyLaoShe(1936)becameaclassic.

TheGuomindang despite itsattemptstounite the country failed because of its narrow social base and

limited politicalvision. Amajorplankin SunYat-sen’sprogramme– regulatingcapital andequalising

land–wasnevercarriedoutbecausethepartyignoredthepeasantryandtherisingsocialinequalities.It

soughttoimposemilitaryorderratherthenaddresstheproblemsfacedbythepeople.

Thestoryofrisingprices.

TheRiseoftheCommunistPartyofChina

When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, the Guomindang retreated. The long and exhausting war

weakenedChina.Pricesrose30percentpermonthbetween1945 and1949, andutterlydestroyedthe

lives of ordinary people. Rural China faced two crises: one ecological, with soil exhaustion,

deforestation and floods, and the second, a socio-economic one caused by exploitative land-tenure

systems,indebtedness,primitivetechnologyandpoorcommunications.

TheCCPhadbeenfoundedin1921,soonaftertheRussianRevolution.TheRussiansuccessexerciseda

powerful influence around the world and leaders such as Lenin and Trotsky went on to establish the

CominternortheThirdInternationalinMarch1918tohelpbringaboutaworldgovernmentthatwould

endexploitation.TheCominternandtheSovietUnionsupportedcommunistpartiesaroundtheworldbut

theyworkedwithinthetraditionalMarxistunderstandingthatrevolutionwouldbebroughtaboutbythe

workingclassincities.Itsinitialappealacrossnationalboundarieswasimmensebutitsoonbecamea

toolforSovietinterestsandwasdissolvedin1943.MaoZedong(1893-1976),whoemergedasamajor

CCPleader,tookadifferentpathby basing hisrevolutionaryprogramme onthepeasantry.Hissuccess

madetheCCPapowerfulpoliticalforcethatultimatelywonagainsttheGuomindang.

MaoZedong’sradicalapproachcanbeseeninJiangxi,inthemountains,wheretheycampedfrom1928to

1934,securefromGuomindangattacks.Astrongpeasants’council(soviet)wasorganised,unitedthrough

confiscationandredistributionofland.Mao,unlikeotherleaders,stressedtheneedforanindependent

governmentandarmy.Hehadbecomeawareofwomen’sproblemsandsupportedtheemergenceofrural

women’s associations, promulgated a new marriage law that forbade arranged marriages, stopped

purchaseorsaleofmarriagecontractsandsimplifieddivorce.

Inasurveyin1930inXunwu,MaoZedonglookedateverydaycommoditiessuchassaltandsoyabeans,attherelativestrengthsoflocal

organisations, at petty traders and craftsmen, ironsmiths and prostitutes, and the strength of religious organisations to examine the

differentlevelsofexploitation.Hegatheredstatisticsofthenumberofpeasantswhohadsoldtheirchildrenandfoundoutwhatpricethey

received–boysweresoldfor100-200yuanbuttherewerenoinstancesofthesaleofgirlsbecausetheneedwasforhardlabournot

sexualexploitation.Itwasonthebasisofthesestudiesthatheadvocatedwaysofsolvingsocialproblems.

TheGuomindangblockadeoftheCommunists’Sovietforcedthepartytoseekanotherbase.Thisledthem

togoonwhatcametobecalledtheLongMarch(1934-35),6,000gruellinganddifficultmilestoShanxi.

Here,intheirnewbaseinYanan,theyfurtherdevelopedtheirprogrammetoendwarlordism,carryout

landreformsandfightforeignimperialism.Thiswonthemastrongsocialbase.Inthedifficultyearsof

thewar,theCommunistsandtheGuomindangworkedtogether,butafter

theendofthewartheCommunistsestablishedthemselvesinpowerandtheGuomindangwasdefeated.

Map2:TheLongMarch

PhotographofsoldiersontheLongMarchreclaimingwasteland,1941.

EstablishingtheNewDemocracy:1949-65

ThePeoplesRepublicofChinagovernmentwasestablishedin1949.Itwasbasedontheprinciplesofthe

‘NewDemocracy’,anallianceofallsocialclasses,unlikethe‘dictatorshipoftheproletariat’*thatthe

SovietUnionsaidithadestablished.Criticalareasoftheeconomywereputundergovernmentcontrol,

andprivateenterpriseandprivateownershipoflandweregraduallyended.Thisprogrammelastedtill

1953when thegovernmentdeclaredthatit wouldlauncha programmeof socialist transformation. The

GreatLeapForwardmovementlaunchedin1958wasapolicytogalvanisethecountrytoindustrialise

rapidly.Peoplewereencouragedtosetupsteelfurnacesintheirbackyards.Intheruralareas,people’s

communes(wherelandwouldbecollectivelyownedandcultivated)werestarted.By1958,therewere

26,000communescovering98percentofthefarmpopulation.

*ThistermwasusedbyKarlMarxtostressthattheworkingclasswouldreplacetherepressivegovernmentofthepropertiedclass

witharevolutionarygovernmentandnotadictatorshipinthecurrentsense.

MaowasabletomobilisethemassestoattainthegoalssetbytheParty.Hisconcernwaswithcreatinga

‘socialistman’whowouldhavefiveloves:fatherland,people,labour,scienceandpublicproperty.Mass

organisationswerecreatedforfarmers, women, studentsand othergroups.For instance, theAll-China

DemocraticWomen’sFederationhad76millionmembers,theAll-ChinaStudentsFederation3.29million

members.TheseobjectivesandmethodsdidnotappealtoeveryoneintheParty.In1953-54,somewere

urgingformoreattentiontoindustrialorganisationandeconomicgrowth.LiuShaochi(1896-1969)and

DengXiaoping(1904-97)triedtomodifythecommunesystemasitwasnotworkingefficiently.Thesteel

producedinthebackyardfurnaceswasunusableindustrially.

ConflictingVisions:1965-78

The conflict between the Maoists wanting to create a ‘Socialist Man’ and those who objected to his

emphasisonideologyratherthanexpertise,culminatedinMaolaunchingtheGreatProletarianCultural

Revolutionin1965tocounterhiscritics.TheRedGuards,mainlystudentsandthearmy,wasusedfora

campaign against old culture, old customs and old habits. Students and professionals were sent to the

countryside to learn from the masses. Ideology (being Communist) was more important than having

professionalknowledge.Denunciationsandslogansreplacedrationaldebate.

The Cultural Revolution began a period of turmoil, weakened the Party and severely disrupted the

economyandeducationalsystem.Fromthelate1960s,thetidebegantoturn.In1975,thePartyonceagain

laidemphasisongreatersocialdisciplineandtheneedtobuildanindustrialeconomysothatChinacould

becomeapowerbeforetheendofthecentury.

Reformsfrom1978

TheCulturalRevolutionwasfollowedbyaprocessofpoliticalmanoeuvring.DengXiaopingkeptparty

controlstrongwhileintroducingasocialistmarketeconomy.In1978,thePartydeclareditsgoalasthe

FourModernisations(todevelopscience,industry,agriculture,defence).Debatewasallowedaslongas

thePartywasnotquestioned.

Inthisnewandliberatingclimate,asatthetimeoftheMayFourthmovement60yearsearlier,therewas

an exciting explosion of new ideas. On 5 December 1978, a wall-poster, ‘The Fifth Modernisation’

proclaimed that without Democracy the other modernisations would come to nothing. It went on to

criticisetheCCPfornotsolvingtheproblemofpovertyorendingsexualexploitation,evencitingcases

ofsuchabusefromwithintheParty.

Thesedemandsweresuppressed,butin1989ontheseventiethanniversaryoftheMayFourthmovement

many intellectualscalled for a greater openness and an end to‘ossified dogmas’ (su shaozhi). Student

demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in Beijing were brutally repressed. This was strongly condemned

aroundtheworld.

Afterthe1978Reforms,theChinesewereabletobuyconsumergoodsfreely.

Thepost-reformperiodhasseentheemergenceofdebatesonwaystodevelopChina.Thedominantview

supportedbythePartyisbasedonstrongpoliticalcontrol,economicliberalisationandintegrationinto

theworldmarket.Criticsarguethatincreasinginequalitiesbetweensocialgroups,betweenregionsand

between men and women arecreating social tensions,and question theheavy emphasison the market.

Finally,thereisagrowingrevivalofearlierso-called‘traditional’ideas,ofConfucianismandarguments

thatChinacanbuildamodernsocietyfollowingitsowntraditionsratherthansimplycopyingtheWest.

TheStoryofTaiwan

ChiangKai-shek,defeatedbytheCCPfledin1949toTaiwanwithoverUS$300millioningoldreserves

andcratesofpricelessarttreasuresandestablishedtheRepublicofChina.TaiwanhadbeenaJapanese

colonysincetheChinesecededitafterthe1894-95warwithJapan.TheCairoDeclaration(1943)and

thePotsdamProclamation(1949)restoredsovereigntytoChina.

MassivedemonstrationsinFebruary1947hadledtheGMDtobrutallykillawholegenerationofleading

figures.TheGMD,underChiangKai-shekwentontoestablisharepressivegovernmentforbiddingfree

speechandpoliticalopposition and excludingthe localpopulation frompositionsofpower. However,

theycarriedoutlandreformsthatincreasedagriculturalproductivityandmodernisedtheeconomysothat

by1973TaiwanhadaGNPsecondonlytothatofJapaninAsia.Theeconomy,largelydependentontrade

has been steadily growing, but what is important is that the gap between the rich and poor has been

steadilydeclining.

EvenmoredramatichasbeenthetransformationofTaiwanintoademocracy.Itbeganslowly afterthe

death of Chiang in 1975 and grew in momentum when martial law was lifted in 1987 and opposition

partieswerelegallypermitted.ThefirstfreeelectionsbegantheprocessofbringinglocalTaiwaneseto

power.DiplomaticallymostcountrieshaveonlytrademissionsinTaiwan.Fulldiplomaticrelationsand

embassiesarenotpossibleasTaiwanisconsideredtobepartofChina.

Thequestionofre-unificationwiththemainlandremainsacontentiousissuebut“CrossStrait”relations

(that is between Taiwan and China) have been improving and Taiwanese trade and investments in the

mainland are massive and travel has also become easier. China may be willing to tolerate a semi-

autonomousTaiwanaslongasitgivesupanymovetoseekindependence.

TwoRoadstoModernisation

Industrialsocietiesfarfrombecominglikeeachotherhavefoundtheirownpathstobecomingmodern.

ThehistoriesofJapanandChinashowhowdifferenthistoricalconditionsledthemonwidelydivergent

pathstobuildingindependentandmodernnations.Japanwassuccessfulinretainingitsindependenceand

usingtraditionalskillsandpracticesinnewways.However,itselite-drivenmodernisationgeneratedan

aggressive nationalism, helped to sustain a repressive regime that stifled dissent and demands for

democracy,andestablishedacolonialempirethatleftalegacyofhatredintheregionaswellasdistorted

internaldevelopments.

Japan’sprogrammeofmodernisationwascarriedoutinanenvironmentdominatedbyWesternimperial

powers. While it imitated them it also attempted to find its own solutions. Japanese nationalism was

marked by these different compulsions – while many Japanese hoped to liberate Asia from Western

domination,forotherstheseideasjustifiedbuildinganempire.

Itisimportanttonotethatthetransformationofsocialandpoliticalinstitutionsanddailylifewasnotjust

a questionof revivingtraditions,or tenaciouslypreservingthem,butratherof creativelyusingthemin

new and different ways. For instance, the Meiji school system, modelled on European and American

practices, introduced new subjects but the curriculum’s main objective was to make loyal citizens. A

courseonmoralsthatstressedloyaltytotheemperorwascompulsory.Similarly,changesinthefamilyor

indailylifeshowhowforeignandindigenousideaswerebroughttogethertocreatesomethingnew.

TheChinesepathtomodernisationwasverydifferent.Foreignimperialism,bothWesternandJapanese,

combinedwithahesitantandunsureQingdynastytoweakengovernmentcontrolandsetthestagefora

breakdownofpoliticalandsocialorderleadingtoimmensemiseryformostofthepeople.Warlordism,

banditryandcivilwarexactedaheavytollonhumanlives,asdidthesavageryoftheJapaneseinvasion.

Naturaldisastersaddedtothisburden.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw a rejection of traditions and a search for ways to build

nationalunityandstrength.TheCCPanditssupportersfoughttoputanendtotradition,whichtheysawas

keeping the masses in poverty, the women subjugated and the country undeveloped. While calling for

power to the people, it built a highly centralised state. The success of the Communist programme

promisedhopebutitsrepressivepoliticalsystemturnedtheidealsofliberationandequalityintoslogans

to manipulate the people. Yet it did remove centuries-old inequalities, spread education and raise

consciousnessamongthepeople.

The Party has now carried out market reforms and has been successful in making China economically

powerful but its political system continues to be tightly controlled. The society now faces growing

inequalities, as well as a revival of traditions long suppressed. This new situation again poses the

questionofhowChinacandevelopwhileretainingitsheritage.

Exercises

Answerinbrief

1. What were the major developments before the Meiji restoration that made it possible for Japan to

moderniserapidly?

2.DiscusshowdailylifewastransformedasJapandeveloped.

3.HowdidtheQingdynastytryandmeetthechallengeposedbytheWesternpowers?

4.WhatwereSunYat-sen’sThreePrinciples?



Answerinashortessay

5.DidJapan’spolicyofrapidindustrialisation leadto warswith itsneighboursand destructionofthe

environment?

6.DoyouthinkthatMaoZedongandtheCommunistPartyofChinaweresuccessfulinliberatingChina

andlayingthebasisforitscurrentsuccess?

Conclusion

ThisbookonThemesofWorldHistoryhastakenyouacrossvast

stretchesoftime–ancient,medieval,modern.Ithasfocusedon

someofthemoreprominentthemesofhumanevolutionanddevelopment.Eachsectionhascoveredthe

following,increasinglyforeshortened,periods:

Ic.6mya–400bce

IIbce400–1300ce

III800–1700ce

IV1700–2000ce

Although historians tend to specialise in ancient, medieval and modern periods, the historian’s craft

displayscertaincommonfeaturesandpredicaments.Wehaveattemptedtonuancethedistinctionbetween

ancient,medievalandmoderninordertoconveyaholisticideaofhowhistoryiswrittenanddiscussed

asalsotoequipyouwithanoverallunderstandingofhumanhistorythatgoeswellbeyondourmodern

roots.

ThebookwouldhaveallowedyouaglimpseintothehistoryofAfrica,WestandCentralAsia,EastAsia,

Australia, North and South America and Europe including the United Kingdom. It would have

familiarised you with what may be called the ‘case study’ method. Instead of burdening you with

enormous detail about the history of all these places, we felt it would be better to examine key

illustrationsofcertainphenomenaindetail.

World history can be written in many ways. One of these, perhaps the oldest, is to focus on contact

between peoples to stress the interconnectedness of cultures and civilisations and to explore the

multifariousdimensionsofworldhistoricalchange.Analternativeistoidentifyrelativelyself-contained

–thoughexpanding–regionsofeconomicexchangethatsustainedcertainformsofcultureandpower.A

third method specifies differences in the historicalexperience of nations and regions to highlight their

distinctive characteristics. You would have found traces of each of these approaches in the book. But

differencesbetweensocieties(andindividuals)gohandinhandwith

similarities. Interlinkages, connections and similarities among human communities always existed. The

interplayoftheglobalandthelocal(‘theworldinagrainofsand’),the‘mainstream’andthe‘marginal’,

thegeneralandthespecific,whichyouwouldhavegleanedfromthisbook,areafascinatingaspectofthe

studyofhistory.

OuraccountbeganfromscatteredsettlementsinAfrica,AsiaandEurope.Fromtherewemovedontocity

lifeinMesopotamia.EarlyempireswerecreatedaroundcitiesinMesopotamia,Egypt,China,Persiaand

India.Empiresofgreaterextentfollowedthem –theGreek(Macedonian),Roman,Araband (fromthe

1200s)theMongol.Tradingoperations,technologyand governmentwere oftenhighlyintricateinthese

empires.Veryoften,theywerebasedoneffectiveuseofawrittenlanguage.

A new era in human history took shape as a consequence of a combination of technological and

organisationalchangesthatoccurredinWesternEuropeinthemiddleofthesecondmillenniumce(from

the1400sonwards).Thesewerelinkedtothe‘Renaissance’or‘rebirth’ofcivilisation,whoseprimary

impact was felt in the cities of northern Italy, but whose influence spread quickly over Europe. This

Renaissancewastheproductoftheregion’scitylife,andofextensiveinteractionswithByzantiumandthe

MuslimworldoftheMediterranean.Overtime,ideasanddiscoverieswerecarriedtotheAmericasby

explorersandconquerors,inthesixteenthcenturyce.SomeofthesenotionswerecarriedlatertoJapan,

Indiaandelsewhereaswell.

Europeanpre-eminenceinglobaltrade,politicsand culturedidnot comeatthistime. Itwastobe the

feature oftheeighteenth and nineteenthcenturies,when the IndustrialRevolution took place inBritain,

andspreadtoEurope.Britain,FranceandGermanywereabletocreatesystemsofcolonialcontrolover

partsofAfricaandAsia–systemsmoreintenseandpowerfulthanthoseofearlierempires.Bythemid-

twentiethcentury,thetechnology,economiclifeandculturethathadoncemadeEuropeanstatespowerful

hadbeenreworkedintherestoftheworldtocreatethefoundationsofmodernlife.

Youmusthavenoticedpassagesquotedinthevariouschaptersofthebook.Manyoftheseareextractsfor

what historians call ‘primary sources’. Scholars construct history from such materials, drawing their

‘facts’fromthem.Theycriticallyevaluatethesematerialsandareattentivetotheirambiguities.Different

historians may use a given source-material to advance vastly different, even contradictory arguments

about historical phenomena. As with the other human sciences, history can be made to speak to us in

varied voices. This is because of the intricate relationship between the historian’s reasoning and

historicalfacts.

InyourfinalyearatschoolyouwillbestudyingaspectsofIndian(orSouthAsian)historyfromHarappan

times to the makingofmodern India’s Constitution. Again, the emphasiswill be on ajudiciousmix of

political, economic, social and cultural history, inviting you to engage with chosen themes through the

case-studymethod.Wehopethesebookswillhelpyouformulateyourownanswerstosomanyquestions,

abovealltothequestion,‘WhystudyHistory?’Doyouknowthegiftedmedievalist,MarcBloch,began

hisbook,TheHistorian’sCraft,writteninthetrenchesduringtheSecondWorldWar,byrecallingayoung

boy’squestion,‘Tellme,Daddy.Whatistheuseofhistory?’

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